Agenda item

This Council notes the outcome of Ofsted’s focussed visit to Leeds children’s services on 20 and 21 July 2021.

Her Majesty’s Inspectors found that the front door is well resourced, observing that continued investment in early help services means there are a wide range of effective help services available to children and families.

Regrettably, Ofsted also found that social work practice is not consistently strong; decision making is not always timely where a child protection risk is not clear; the cumulative impact of domestic abuse is not always considered in the assessment of risk and decision-making; and audits do not provide sufficient evidence to drive forward practice.

Council calls on the Executive Member for Adult and Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships to implement an urgent three-point plan to monitor progress of the improvement plan:

1.  Call-in best practice advice from local authorities that are making good progress in areas we are not.

2.  Ask the Children & Families Scrutiny Board to establish ‘monitoring workshops’ to track progress on the quality and consistency of assessments, the quality and impact of management oversight and supervision, and the quality and independence of audits.

3.  Publish recent informal peer reviews and commit to a further peer review within six months to monitor progress of the improvement plan.

It was moved by Councillor Stephenson, seconded by Councillor Richards that 

this Council notes the outcome of Ofsted’s focussed visit to Leeds children’s services on 20 and 21 July 2021.

Her Majesty’s Inspectors found that the front door is well resourced, observing that continued investment in early help services means there are a wide range of effective help services available to children and families.

Regrettably, Ofsted also found that social work practice is not consistently strong; decision making is not always timely where a child protection risk is not clear; the cumulative impact of domestic abuse is not always considered in the assessment of risk and decision-making; and audits do not provide sufficient evidence to drive forward practice.

Council calls on the Executive Member for Adult and Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships to implement an urgent three-point plan to monitor progress of the improvement plan:

1.  Call-in best practice advice from local authorities that are making good progress in areas we are not.

2.  Ask the Children & Families Scrutiny Board to establish ‘monitoring workshops’ to track progress on the quality and consistency of assessments, the quality and impact of management oversight and supervision, and the quality and independence of audits.

3.  Publish recent informal peer reviews and commit to a further peer review within six months to monitor progress of the improvement plan.

An amendment was moved by Councillor Venner, seconded by Councillor Marshall-Katung

Delete all after:

“This Council notes the outcome of Ofsted’s focussed visit to Leeds children’s services on 20 and 21 July 2021.

Her Majesty’s Inspectors found that the front door is well resourced, observing that continued investment in early help services means there are a wide range of effective help services available to children and families.”

Replace with:

“Council notes Ofsted’s positive feedback that services have adapted to meet demands during the pandemic and ensured that children and families receive support that helps avoid the need for more formal statutory interventions. Council notes, also, Ofsted’s positive comments regarding our committed and stable workforce who have felt supported throughout the Covid 19 crisis and are proud to work for Leeds.

Council fully accepts the three recommendations for improvement in the published letter of the Ofsted Focused Visit and offers its support to the Children and Families Directorate in the delivery of their action plan developed following the visit. Social work teams are now being paired to carry out audits and moderation put in place. Learning for team managers is being updated around assessments and recording of supervisions and an action plan is in place for the front door that includes a focus on timeliness and ensuring that all conversations are comprehensively recorded.

After a decade of austerity and cuts to Local Authority Funding of Children’s Services, and three years since the Conservative MP and former Children’s Minister Tim Loughton highlighted the consequences of the “woeful underfunding” of children’s services; Council calls on the government to properly fund Children’s Social Care and agree to the call made by the Local Government Association’s “A Child-centred recovery” report to restore £1.7bn in lost Early Intervention Grant funding. This is desperately needed to support children, young people and families recover from the pandemic and address the Tory government’s wilful neglect of children’s needs during the Covid 19 crisis.”

The amendment in the name of Councillor Venner was declared carried and upon being put to the vote it was

RESOLVED – That this Council notes Ofsted’s positive feedback that services have adapted to meet demands during the pandemic and ensured that children and families receive support that helps avoid the need for more formal statutory interventions. Council notes, also, Ofsted’s positive comments regarding our committed and stable workforce who have felt supported throughout the Covid 19 crisis and are proud to work for Leeds.

Council fully accepts the three recommendations for improvement in the published letter of the Ofsted Focused Visit and offers its support to the Children and Families Directorate in the delivery of their action plan developed following the visit. Social work teams are now being paired to carry out audits and moderation put in place. Learning for team managers is being updated around assessments and recording of supervisions and an action plan is in place for the front door that includes a focus on timeliness and ensuring that all conversations are comprehensively recorded.

After a decade of austerity and cuts to Local Authority Funding of Children’s Services, and three years since the Conservative MP and former Children’s Minister Tim Loughton highlighted the consequences of the “woeful underfunding” of children’s services; Council calls on the government to properly fund Children’s Social Care and agree to the call made by the Local Government Association’s “A Child-centred recovery” report to restore £1.7bn in lost Early Intervention Grant funding. This is desperately needed to support children, young people and families recover from the pandemic and address the Tory government’s wilful neglect of children’s needs during the Covid 19 crisis.”