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Tag Archives: Children’s Services
Best Start centres under threat again from Flemming’s survey
Our council reporter, PEARL LEE, on the latest stitch-up survey being rushed through as a ruse to justify cuts to services for babies and toddlers Here comes another council “survey” where the information scraped from residents will be used to … Continue reading
Croydon In Crisis: Council can no longer cope with basic tasks
It was on November 11, 2020, that Croydon issued a Section114 Notice, effectively admitting they were bankrupt. Twelve months on, and now the council struggles to fulfil even the most basic of administrative services. EXCLUSIVE By STEVEN DOWNES Resident endures … Continue reading
Posted in Council Tax, Croydon Council, Katherine Kerswell, Libraries, Report in the Public Interest, Section 114 notice
Tagged Children's Services, coronavirus, Council Tax, Council Tax Support, Covid-19, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Libraries, Katherine Kerswell, Labour, Purley Pool
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Flemming forced to drop plan to close two children’s centres
The council has been forced to back down from cost-cutting proposals, including closures, that will have impacted thousands of the borough’s children and the families. The council wanted to reduce its spend on its Best Start Children’s Centres by £1million … Continue reading
Ofsted discover ‘worrying signs’ of cuts on children’s services
Inspectors from Ofsted have warned that some of the borough’s most vulnerable children may be put at greater risk as a consequence of cuts and redundancies caused by the council’s financial collapse. Ofsted inspectors last month carried out their latest … Continue reading
Council ‘too quick to pass the buck’ over child abuse claims
Local Government Ombudsman orders Croydon to conduct an audit of child sexual abuse cases going back three years, after the authority’s response to a draft report ‘suggests wider systemic issues’ Croydon’s children’s services department may have “systemic” errors, according to … Continue reading
Woman charged with murdering her son worked for council
The mother of two-year-old Kyrell Matthews, who died at his Thornton Heath home in October 2019 after suffering 39 fractures, had been employed by Croydon Council… working with children in care. Inside Croydon has confirmed that Phylesia Shirley was a … Continue reading
‘Startling’ findings in Ombudsman report on children in care
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The council’s dilemma over cutting funding to the children’s services department has been highlighted by a report which says that youngsters in care are being let down by local authorities A report published by the Local Government … Continue reading
Criticism mounting around council’s £800 per day director
CROYDON IN CRISIS: The team of social workers which helped to drag the council’s children’s services department from an Ofsted rating of ‘Inadequate’ to ‘Good’ is breaking up, with increasing concern for the youngsters in the care of the local … Continue reading
Fears over children’s services as another director quits council
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Staff worry that an exodus of colleagues will desert bankrupt council before the worst of the cuts bite. EXCLUSIVE By STEVEN DOWNES Nick Pendry, Croydon’s director of early help and children’s social care, is to follow his … Continue reading
Newman ally Ali tipped as favourite to be council’s new leader
WALTER CRONXITE on the lacklustre contest among Labour councillors to become the Town Hall’s new chief Croydon Council should have a new leader as soon as tomorrow night. But the appointment looks as if it could present the borough with … Continue reading
Posted in Alisa Flemming, Alison Butler, Children's Services, Crime, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Paul Scott, Stuart Collins, Stuart King, Tony Newman, Woodside
Tagged Alisa Flemming, Alison Butler, Children's Services, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon South, Hamida Ali, Labour, London Borough of Croydon, Ofsted, Stuart Collins, Tony Newman
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‘Are you joking?’ Two council staffers in Birthday Honours
MBEs have been awarded to two members of Croydon Council staff in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, announced overnight. Val Burrell-Walker, 57, who has been the council’s fair access manager for school pupils for the past 15 years, and Rashida Baig, … Continue reading
Posted in Children's Services, Croydon Council, Education, Schools
Tagged Children's Services, Rashida Baig, Val Burrell-Walker
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£800 per day exec director job goes to ‘naughty step’ Jones
The Tower Hamlets council official who was in charge of that borough’s schools when Shamima Begum and two other girls were radicalised and escaped to Syria to become “jihadi brides” has just been appointed by Croydon as the borough’s interim … Continue reading
400 job cuts – but council is recruiting exec on £800 PER DAY
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Simmering anger among staff who fear they may lose their jobs is likely to turn to fury when they realise that the council’s top-down cuts are leaving the executive floors barely touched. Exclusive by STEVEN DOWNES Croydon … Continue reading
Children’s services suffers 30% cut in social workers
CROYDON IN CRISIS: Concerns are growing at Fisher’s Folly that cutbacks on hiring agency workers, implemented since January this year, could adversely impact some of the borough’s most vulnerable. KEN LEE reports Croydon Council’s children’s services department, which was given … Continue reading
Henderson leaves Croydon and ‘legacy of love and hope’
The executive director of the borough’s children’s and education services left the council on Friday with an emotional message to colleagues, saying it was “the best job I ever had”. By STEVEN DOWNES Eleventh-hour efforts to persuade Robert Henderson to … Continue reading
Negrini reshuffles executive pack to cope with Henderson exit
Town Hall reporter KEN LEE on the latest changes in the executive suites at Fisher’s Folly The council could be looking to shave £150,000 or more per year from its on-going costs by not replacing Robert Henderson as the exec … Continue reading
‘Strong and stable’? Henderson is third to leave department
It was 2.43pm when the publish button was pressed yesterday at Inside Croydon Towers for our exclusive report of the imminent departure from the council of Rob Henderson, executive director of children, families and education. Two hours later, the council … Continue reading
Croydon in crisis: Children’s services chief opts to leave
EXCLUSIVE: Our Town Hall reporter, KEN LEE, on the shock decision of one of the more respected executives at Fisher’s Folly to quit his council job Robert Henderson, Croydon’s executive director for children, families and education, is to leave the … Continue reading
Croydon in crisis: Council staff in frontline posts lose their jobs
The council’s hard-pressed children’s services department is among the first to lay-off staff, despite assurances from the council leader, while exec directors, on six-figure salaries, have escaped redundancy. STEVEN DOWNES reports Council staff, some of whom have been given notice … Continue reading
Ofsted inspection rates Croydon children’s services ‘Good’
It has taken two and a half years, and an extra £25million spent on recruiting staff and providing new equipment, but Croydon Council’s children’s services department has finally been rated as “Good” by Ofsted following its latest inspection. The borough’s … Continue reading
Ofsted finds ‘sustained progress’ in children’s services
After nearly three years in special measures, Ofsted says that Croydon’s children’s services department is showing “sustained progress”, and is beginning to operate in a manner that properly serves the borough’s most vulnerable young people. The department’s social workers are … Continue reading
Council’s sorry performance after Ombudsman’s dozen rulings
One reason that rulings by the Local Government Ombudsman against local authorities, such as Croydon, attract so little attention is that the Ombudsman’s office never insists that the offending councils should publish the findings in full on their own website. … Continue reading
Council tries to ‘hoodwink’ families to opt out of SEND services
Croydon Council is trying to save £100,000 from its SEND budget for every teenager currently receiving help from the local authority, under services which it is supposed to provide by law. Youngsters with SEND – special education needs or disability … Continue reading
Posted in Children's Services, Croydon Council, Education, Schools, SEND
Tagged Children's Services, Croydon Council, EHCP, SEND
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Protesters SEND message: it’s not just money that matters
CROYDON COMMENTARY: Families who have children, teens and young adults with special educational needs and disabilities have become increasingly frustrated with the lack of care and attention provided by their councils. Yesterday, they staged a march on Westminster. SARAH BOWELL … Continue reading
Posted in Children's Services, Croydon Council, Education, Schools, SEND
Tagged #SENDNATIONALCRISIS, Children's Services, Croydon Council, London, SEND
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Council couldn’t care less: Ombudsman upholds 7 complaints
Croydon Council had seven public complaints upheld against it by the Local Government Ombudsman in the first three months of 2019, research conducted for Inside Croydon can reveal. The rulings resulted in several apologies from the council, and hundreds of … Continue reading
