Inspectors give their verdict after return visit to Torbay's 'inadequate' children's services

Two inspectors from the government standards watchdog Ofsted - the Office for Standards in Education - carried out a monitoring visit to the department on January 8

An inspection update on Torbay’s children’s services - rated ‘inadequate’ since 2016 - has found signs of improvement.

Two inspectors from the government standards watchdog Ofsted - the Office for Standards in Education - carried out a monitoring visit to the department on January 8.

The report in a letter to Nancy Meehan, the council’s acting director of children’s services, said the council had strengthened the senior leadership team who were clear about the challenges, and there was political support and financial investment.

It found a series of improvements and said the council was building the foundations for “sustained change”, but pointed out concerns about large caseloads, high numbers of agency staff and “highly variable quality of practice”.

The council’s leadership welcomed the report and said it showed the department was “moving in the right direction”.

The January visit by two inspectors was the fourth since the department was judged ‘inadequate’ for the second time in 2018. A report after the last visit in October 2019 said the pace of change was too slow.

Torbay decided in November to end an arrangement with Plymouth City Council to run its children's services under a joint director after less than two years.  It is due to appoint its own dedicated director and has advertised the job.

The department is expected to cost more than £40m this year and next year's proposed budget is £47m, more than a third of council's total spending.

The letter from inspector Brenda McLaughlin, which was published on Friday, January 31, said: “In summary, very recent changes and actions are starting to create a culture of high expectation and an environment in which understanding the child’s world is central to all activity and practice.

“The new leaders already know the service well. 

“They are rightly very concerned about the drift and delay and about the failures since the last inspection to embed sustainable changes at every level. 

“They also recognise that huge fragilities in the system remain due to the high volume of work.”

The letter said leaders had a “sound understanding of the key priorities for improvement and recognise the immense challenges they face."

It added: “Leaders are highly visible and accessible, inspiring increased confidence within the workforce. 

“It is vital that these early signs of progress are secured and sustained and that the pace of change accelerates across all service areas.”

The letter said highly committed social workers reported being well supported by managers.

Staff morale was good and there was improved management, with the quality of assessments improving and “highly effective work” to reunite young children with their parents.

But inspectors raised concerns about child protection procedures and child protection medicals not taking place out of hours, and said there was evidence of poor plans for children and avoidable delays in accessing domestic abuse programmes.

The letter said: “Too many children are still not seen often enough and wait too long for services. 

“Children in need and child protection plans do not address the individual needs of children. 

“Poor case recording is linked to the high workloads in the frontline teams.”

The letter said newly appointed senior leaders knew there was a “huge amount of further work” needed to secure minimum practice standards for all vulnerable children.

They were “beginning to lay the foundations to build sustained change by setting out a clear and ambitious vision while simultaneously addressing immediate areas of concern.”

The inspector said there was a new approach backed by a strengthened improvement plan which was led from the top and involved key staff.

The letter reported “emerging evidence of a coherent systematic approach to cultural change based on a thorough identification and analysis of the significant weaknesses and areas of strength.”

It said recruitment and retention of staff was a key priority, and a strategy was being carried out.

A statement from Torbay Council said the report acknowledged the Department for Education had appointed a new commissioner to support the council, and that progress was being made.

The council’s Cabinet member for children’s services Cordelia Law said: “Although there is still work to be done we are pleased that Ofsted’s letter recognises that things are definitely moving in the right direction.

 “In their letter Ofsted praise the accelerated pace of change at Torbay Council, a coherent systematic approach to change, and our desire to create a culture of high expectation and an environment that understands the child’s world.

 “The letter also recognises the considerable political support here at Torbay Council to improve our children’s services – we are totally committed to this at the highest level and it is absolutely one of our top priorities going forward.”

 Nancy Meehan, the council’s interim director of children’s services, said: “We welcome the letter from Ofsted and the recent monitoring visit that recognises that although there is still a lot of work to do, progress is starting to be made. 

“Senior leaders within are committed to improve services and children are a priority for the council.

 “We are absolutely committed to improving our children’s services in Torbay – we know what needs to be done, there’s lots to do and it won’t happen overnight - but we have a robust improvement plan in place to support the changes required to make this happen.

 “I have recently been appointed as interim director of children’s services and we have ambitious plans to recruit more permanent social workers to improve capacity and reduce caseloads within the service. 

“We also have a project in place to enhance our support for foster carers – and recruit more of them. 

“We are making changes to our youth services including transferring the service and young carers to a charitable youth trust.”