“This is about how it impacts the life chances of our children”
The council said things are already changing.
Stockport council said it is taking ‘immediate’ steps to fix problems with children’s services after an Ofsted inspection found multiple issues.
The watchdog’s report in July ordered the Lib Dem-controlled council to make changes and highlighted several concerns, including leaving some children in care ‘in harmful situations for too long.’
Inspectors also said the council’s response to domestic abuse is ‘inconsistent’ and ‘relies on victims to protect their children from the people who have abused them.’
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The council was rated ‘Good’ in the experiences and progress of care leavers. Ofsted’s findings were discussed by councillors during a town-hall meeting on August 7.
Christine McLoughlin OBE, the council’s director of children’s services, said: “I think it’s really important that we say categorically that we accept the findings of Ofsted, that we take their feedback to us very seriously, and have taken action both immediately at the time of the Ofsted inspection taking place, and since then with pace we’ve already taken steps to make improvements.”
Councillors met at the town hall to discuss the situation.
Lib Dem councillor Wendy Meikle, the council’s cabinet member for children, families and education, said the authority is under growing pressure.
“The increase on our service since Covid has almost doubled, in 2013 we used to have an average of 300 young people in care, now it’s over 500.
“The cost of keeping a child in care has increased massively from about £1,800 in 2013 to now £6,200 per week to keep a child in a residential placement, the pressures are enormous.
“You add £6,200 by however many people we have in care and it’s a huge amount of money, we do need more funding, we need fairer funding, we could employ more social workers, you can do a lot more with money.”
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An improvement plan will be ready by September for councillors to give feedback. Ofsted requires a full improvement action plan in October.
The first steps taken by the council to turn things around include moving ahead with planned improved pay and recognition, with social care pay grades reviewed and uplifted to support the recruitment and retention of staff.
It also involved setting up trackers and dashboards for timeliness of key statutory decisions, bringing forward training plans around neglect, planning and leadership oversight, and introducing panels to oversee and monitor progress.
Coun Graham Greenhalgh said: “Without wanting to downplay the importance of the improvements, I just want to say on a morale point, I don’t believe ‘Requires improvement to be good’ is the worst diagnosis I’ve ever heard to be fair, it means we have to tweak things, it doesn’t sound like armageddon.”
Coun Rosemary Barratt hit back: “This isn’t about a slap on the wrist, this is about how it impacts the life chances of our children.
“In this Ofsted report – a lack in effectiveness from neglect, domestic abuse, delays in their plans, insufficient management oversight leaving children without the necessary support during critical times, children do not always benefit from robust multi-agency plans to keep them safe.
“Those are the important things, it’s not about a slap on the wrist, it’s about those things that we need to address and that’s why we need to scrutinise.
“What is the point of this scrutiny committee if we’re not here to scrutinise?”