Walsall children at risk of sex abuse 'not protected enough' - Ofsted
Children at risk of sexual exploitation are not being protected rigorously enough by overworked social workers in Walsall, a new report has claimed.
Walsall Council's children's services has been rated as 'requires improvement to be good' by Ofsted, which also claims social workers 'do not always sufficiently understand' the impact of children living in situations of domestic abuse and neglect.
High caseloads and staff turnover have also been criticised in the report, which claims that staff are dealing with a 'constant churn' of managers.
The report covers an inspection into services for children across the borough and a review of the effectiveness of the Walsall Safeguarding Children Board, both of which have been rated as requires improvement.
The authority had previously been rated as 'adequate' for the protection of children in August 2013 and services for looked-after children in July 2012.
Regarding concerns over protection for children at risk of sexual exploitation, Jenny Turnross, lead inspector with Ofsted, said: "Social workers and managers do not always sufficiently understand the impact of children living in situations of neglect, domestic abuse and parental drug misuse and, in a small number of cases, children have not received the necessary level of support.
"Work to protect children at risk of, or experiencing sexual exploitation, is not rigorous enough.
"Risk assessments are evident but vary in quality, and there is limited analysis.
"As a result, risks of sexual exploitation to some children, including children looked after, are not responded to effectively."
In July this year, an inspection team from Ofsted spent four weeks assessing how children’s services and the Safeguarding Children Board are providing services and safeguarding children in Walsall.
As of March 31, 2,521 children across the borough had been identified as being in need of a specialist children's service.
Although the figure represents a drop from 2,662 in March 2016, the case loads of staff and a high staff turnover were cited as reasons behind the rating.
Ms Turnross said: "Embedding and sustaining positive change is undermined by the high turnover rate of frontline social workers and first-line managers.
"This constant change, across many service areas, continues to challenge the delivery of the local authority’s ambitious improvement plan.
"In many cases, management oversight is too brief and the rationale for decision-making is not always evident on children’s files.
"This means that it is not always possible to track key events and identify evidence for decisions made.
"As a result, there is drift and delay in taking action when risks increase or progress is limited or not sustained.
"This is more evident where social workers have experienced a constant churn of team managers and have high caseloads."
Features of good practice were also recognised, such as the priority given to improving children’s services by senior leaders and elected members and how this is influencing positive services and improving outcomes for many children.
Councillor Aftab Nawaz, portfolio holder for children’s services said: “The recommendations made by the inspection team are all being addressed in existing improvement action plans.
"The pace of improvement is steady and I’m keen to see that we keep our collective feet on the accelerator.
“I am pleased with the report and satisfied that we are moving in the right direction for children and their families.
"There were no surprises for us; the inspection team has confirmed that we are exactly where we assessed ourselves to be on our journey to be rated ‘good’.”
“To put the rating into context, just under 50 per cent of councils in the country are rated as 'requiring improvement to be good’.
"However, we are firmly focused on improving our rating.
“The inspectors recognised that our social workers know the families they are working with well, that children are only taken into care when it is absolutely necessary and that we find permanent new homes for the children in our care when they need them.”
