Damning report raises 'serious concerns' over council's children's services

A Care and Social Services Inspectorate (CSSIW) report into Powys County Council's children services has uncovered serious failings in leadership, which it says led to children being placed at a risk of harm across the county.

The council has been given 90 days to address the failings, or face the service being taken over by ministers.

The report says opportunities to safeguard children have been missed.

The review also highlighted the concerns of the police, with inspectors concluding: "Partners in the police expressed concern at the inconsistency in response from senior managers, which did not give them confidence in the quality of decision making. Police and health staff were concerned if there was an issue that could not be resolved at an operational level they would not know who to escalate it to."

According to the report child protection procedures have not been followed, and in one example there was no record of child protection statutory visits for a period of six months, from November 2016 to June 2017.

The report also found there was little evidence children’s services are recognised as a priority by the local authority.

Inspectors said: "Children and young people do not appear to be well served by the current arrangements for accessing support services in Powys.

"A lack of assessment, care and support planning combined with an inconsistent approach to working in line with the child sexual exploitation guidance and the management of sexual exploitation and risk assessment framework process placed children at risk of harm.

"The lack of assessment, intervention and support, together with poor follow up and oversight has and is placing children at considerable risk."

CSSIW chief inspector Gillian Baranski said the report raises serious concerns, and the situation will be monitored closely.

She said: "It is clear from this report that we have serious concerns about the way children’s services are run by Powys County Council.

"We have made this clear to Powys County Council and expect to see rapid improvement to ensure that children are safeguarded and families in Powys receive the level of service they deserve. We are monitoring this closely.”

Despite the failings, inspectors found that staff had shown commitment, resilience and professionalism while coping with significant changes in leadership and management.

Council leader Rosemarie Harris has apologised and said the authority would set about implementing the recommendations.

She said: "We fully accept the regulators recommendations, their report is both hard hitting and challenging.

"We are sorry that we failed to meet the high standards residents deserve and apologise for our shortcomings.

“The council is totally committed to safe-guarding children in our county, and I will be leading the council’s response to the recommendations of the inspection from the front as a top priority and that ensuring that the resources are in place to underpin this work."

The report found that frequent changes in management presented a 'fragile organisation without clear structures'.

This included four changes of head of service in the last two years, with the current post holder being an interim appointment.

The report found "care and support for children and families is insufficient, there is a lack of leadership, management oversight and direction in order to provide a responsive and safe service."

The authority will produce an improvement plan in response to the recommendations in the report within 20 working days of publication.

This plan will be closely monitored as part of CSSIW’s programme of inspection, engagement, and performance review.

Councillor Harris added: "We are committing additional resources to meet the future needs of the service and have in place a detailed action plan to ensure that the necessary improvements are delivered as a matter of priority."