Ofsted rule children safe in Warrington – but still room for improvement

SIX years on from being found to have inadequate child protection policies for vulnerable young people, Warrington Council’s protection and safeguarding of children still requires improvement.
But following the most intensive scrutiny ever carried out by the national inspectorate, Ofsted judged Warrington to be ‘good’ in the areas of children achieving permanence, adoption performance and experiences of care leavers – and ruled children are safe in Warrington.
However, improvements have been identified in two areas, and as such the authority’s overall Ofsted judgement is ‘requires improvement to be good’.
The report did not highlight any serious failures and council chiefs stress the ruling does not mean that any children are at risk.
Ofsted said: “No children or young people were found to be unsafe and not being supported during the course of this inspection.”
The local authority has already begun to develop improvement plans in the two areas that require improvement which were ‘leadership, management and governance’ and ‘the experience and progress of children who need help and protection’.
Warrington’s Safeguarding Children Board was also judged to ‘require improvement’.
In the report published today (12 May 2015), Ofsted inspectors said: “In a small number of cases, there were delays in taking decisive action to protect children through the use of public law outline.”
“Managers at all levels were unaware of the impact of inconsistent practice in a small number of cases that inspectors drew to their attention during the inspection.”
Whilst identifying areas for improvement, the report also details several significant strengths and provides strong confidence for future improvement: “The director of children’s services, and senior management team have acted decisively to improve outcomes for children in Warringto. A systematic approach is taken to tackling areas for improvement from previous inspections.”
Audrey Williamson, independent chair of Warrington Safeguarding Children Board, said: “Whilst there are areas for improvement, the review also emphasises the strong partnership in Warrington that operates effectively to deliver on all our responsibilities. We recognise there is more to do and in the coming months we will work hard to continue to strengthen our work in safeguarding vulnerable children and young people.”
“Good arrangements are in place for considering the protection of children who live in households where there is significant risk of domestic abuse.”
“The local authority and safeguarding board have provided extensive training to social workers, schools and other children’s practitioners in relation to child sexual exploitation (CSE) and children missing”
“The Missing, Child Sexual Exploitation, Trafficked Operational Group (MCSETO) is an effective forum for information sharing, and has led to targeted disruption work.”

Steve Reddy

Steve Reddy, Director of Children’s Services at the council, said:  “The language used in the overall judgement is quite misleading, and does not adequately reflect the expertise and commitment of council staff and colleagues across Warrington, who work hard every day to protect children, and improve their outcomes.
“Given the importance of the work we do, we welcome scrutiny to raise standard. I firmly believe the bar should be set high on what is required to be ‘good’, however, I do question a regime where it seems 90% of those inspected ‘require improvement’.
“Having said that, Warrington is not complacent – Ofsted has identified areas where we need to improve and we have already started to take action. The protection and safeguarding of children and young people is a top priority.”

Jean Carter

Cllr Jean Carter, executive board member for children and young people’s services said:  “As Ofsted rightly point out, “There is a strong commitment by senior leaders and elected members to children in care” and this will continue.  “The report also confirms the significant progress made in Warrington since the judgement in 2009. This has only been achieved as a result of the commitment and support of elected members, the excellent leadership of the senior management team and the commitment and professionalism of both council staff and partner agencies”.
Warrington has been on an improvement journey since the rating of ‘inadequate’ in 2009.
Twelve Ofsted inspectors spent 4 weeks during February and March meticulously examining 183 documents, 79 case files, attending 164 meetings and interviewing staff, children, parents, carers and agencies.

For the full report CLICK HERE