Dozens of new social workers have signed up to try and turn around Kirklees Council’s struggling children’s services.
One of the Kirklees Council directors tasked with improving the department has revealed 40 new staff have been recruited and vowed things are on the up.
The news came out as councillors got their first chance to probe for answers as to what had gone wrong after more criticism from watchdog Ofsted late last year.
As reported last December, inspectors stepped in and personally instructed “immediate action” to double check children were safe, following a review of council social work.
They were checking on the council’s recovery from its 2016 “Inadequate” rating, but found things had not improved quickly enough.
In a strongly worded letter, inspectors Rachel Holden and Cath McEvoy said they found that the immediate risk to youngsters was not always being recognised or responded to.
The inspectors themselves asked the council to look again at a “high number” of the cases they reviewed during their visit in October 2017.
At a public meeting of the council’s Children’s Scrutiny Panel on Monday morning, Elaine McShane, service director for child protection and family support, promised councillors and co-opted members that things had got better.
Co-optee, Dale O’Neill, piled the pressure on, asking Mrs McShane to “explain why and how inspectors found a deterioration in the management of risk to vulnerable children?”
“That’s Ofsted interpretation,” Mrs McShane said. “We’re increasing the number of employed social workers.
“The key to long term change is ensuring we’ve got solid foundations, that’s what we’re building day by day.”
Chair of the panel, Clr Cahal Burke, asked if they were aware of any problems ahead of Ofsted’s next visit – expected to be in March.
He asked if social workers were still leaving and about Ofsted’s concern that ‘immediate risk to children was not always dealt with in a timely way.”
“We’re confident Ofsted will be satisfied there are not children at risk,” was the answer.
Mrs McShane added: “We have 40 new social workers and the number of agency staff has reduced.
“We really want to focus on retention, that’s important for our stability, gaining knowledge and experience.
“We have seen a slow down in leavers.”
Clr Donna Bellamy asked if staff morale was any better.
“Are people coming in rather than leaving?” she enquired.
“I would say morale is improving,” Mrs McShane responded.
“We have got a more stable workforce.
“We are having staff coming to us from other authorities and also agency staff are choosing to say on and take up permanent positions.”
Clr Burke said he was re-assured that things were getting better.
“There are negatives but there’s plenty of positives,” he said.
“It is a journey, it’s important to recognise we have come a long way from where we were.
“I’m sure all the good work taking place will be recognised when Ofsted visit again.”
Speaking to the Examiner after the meeting, Clr Burke added: “I am re-assured that we’re moving in the right direction.
“We were reminded that we’re on a journey and improvements are taking perhaps a bit longer than we thought they would.
“It will be telling when we’re visited in March on whether those improvements have taken place.”
