On 14 and 15 May 2024, Ofsted returned to the islands for its second monitoring visit since it rated the Council’s services for children who need help and protection as ‘inadequate.’ Inspectors determined that insufficient progress has been made and weaknesses in practice remain evident. You can read Ofsted’s letter, which summarises the findings, on their website.
During this visit, inspectors reviewed the progress made by the Council in improving the quality and impact of services for ‘children in need’ and ‘children in need of protection’ since their initial inspection of these services in July 2023 and their first monitoring visit in February 2024. Their headline findings are as follows:
- Children who receive social work support are not receiving a consistently good enough response to meet their needs.
- Since the previous monitoring visit in February 2024, insufficient progress has been made and weaknesses in practice remain evident. The pace of change is too slow, with the impact being that children are not receiving the right help at the right time often enough.
- Risks for some children are not identified, which results in them remaining in situations where the severity of risk and need is not clearly understood.
- Management practice decisions are inconsistent and not always in children’s best interests. Alongside this, weaknesses in some aspects of social work practice culminate in children not always receiving the right help and protection.
- Pockets of stronger work are evident in relationship-building with families and more frequent visiting to children, but there has been some deterioration in the standards of social work practice and management. This specifically relates to understanding levels of risk, the appropriate application of thresholds for intervention, and the quality of multi-agency working.
Lead Member for Children, Cllr Joel Williams said: “I am profoundly sorry that our services have not been able to demonstrate sufficient progress in the areas identified by Ofsted as inadequate. Our children deserve better and we must keep their needs at the forefront of all of our minds as we continue on our improvement journey. Whilst I had hoped for better findings, I also sincerely appreciate the efforts of everyone working to overcome the difficulties facing the service and hope that additional focus, resource and support will make all the difference to everyone affected in as short a time as possible.”
Chairman of Council, Cllr Robert Francis, said: “There’s no doubt that the Council needs to take immediate action to address the concerns set out by Ofsted following their most recent visit. I can assure the community that my fellow Councillors and I will do everything we can to support our new Interim Director of Children’s Services as she leads her team through all of the necessary changes as quickly as possible for the benefit of the islands’ children and their families.”
Interim Director of Children’s Services, Anne Coyle, said: “Since my appointment at the beginning of June there has been much to do. I’m pleased to say that I have already been well supported to make a number of changes to the structure of the service that I know will improve the quality and impact of services for children in need, and children in need of protection. These include:
- employing Sarah Allum as our new Service Manager. Sarah has a background in leading operations across all of children’s services and is keen to share her experiences of effective partnership working for the benefit of families.
- employing 2 new social workers, Jenny Ingram and Shirley Wainwright, who have a wealth of experience both in the field and of working in island communities.
- conducting a root and branch review of the operational structure which has underpinned the running of the service to date. A number of improvements were made to the structure immediately to ensure we can support staff and the community in the right ways.
It is fully recognised that only by having the right people in the right places within our services can we help, support and protect those children who are in need of our service. It is our mission to strengthen families and improve children's lives and I am satisfied we are now in a much stronger position to do so.
In addition to the structural changes, we are also:
- fast-tracking the move to a new children's database
- introducing a programme of quality assurance activity with improved management oversight of the standards of practice.
- strengthening our partnership working by being clear about our multi-agency duties under the new statutory guidance (“Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023”). For example, we recently led a workshop with partners and Samantha Flowers, our Children’s Services and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Improvement Project Manager.
- working regularly with Councillors to understand their ambitions for families. This began with a workshop to discuss their ideas for a vision for children on the islands ahead of the creation of a new Strategy for Children.
What happens next?
It is likely that the next visit from Ofsted inspectors will be in the autumn. Our Interim Director of Children’s Services is eager for the service to be highly visible and approachable, with a renewed focus on getting the basics of practice right. We want to work with the community as we learn and develop together, supporting children and families to be their best selves and by making sure that we have a good offer for our youth across the islands.
Raising a concern or seeking support
We understand that the community will be disappointed and concerned to read Ofsted’s findings and we understand the need to build trust and confidence in the system. If you are worried about a child please do get in touch. Safeguarding children really is everyone’s business.
Call: 0300 1234 105 (select the option for Children's Services)
Email: childrenssocialcare@scilly.gov.uk
REMEMBER: If you have a reason to believe that a child is at risk of immediate harm please do not hesitate to call 999 and ask for the police.