“Additional investment” has been made to improve children’s services at Liverpool Council after a damning Ofsted report.
In May, education inspectors lambasted the service provided by the local authority as “inadequate” and cited “serious weaknesses” for children who need help or protection, leaving children “being harmed or at risk of harm.” An inspection in March led to the department being rated as inadequate in four out of five of the key areas – including the overall rating.
Assessing the impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families, the education watchdog said the council had shown “insufficient prioritisation and pace in tackling critical areas necessary to enable improvement.”
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During the inspection period, Liverpool Council was without a director of children’s services following the departure of Steve Reddy earlier this year. Interim director, Suzy Joyner, had been in post only a matter of days at the start of the inspection.
Last month, it was confirmed Jenny Turnross had been named as the local authority’s new corporate director and will take up her post in August. Ms Turnross joins the city from Birmingham Children’s Trust where she currently holds the role of director of practice.
In their first opportunity to scrutinise the findings in public since the report was released, councillors have been given an update on the work the city has taken to address the shortcomings.
In a report to be discussed at the authority’s children and young people’s scrutiny committee next week, Jonathan Jones, director of education, said: “The safety and well-being of the city’s most vulnerable children is an absolute priority for the council and its partners. The interim director of children’s services addressed any immediate issues identified during the inspection period and provided evidence of assurance to the inspectors.
“This is recognised throughout the report.”
Mr Jones said “additional investment” had been made to “strengthen the capacity within the service and improve management grip and oversight.” He also made reference to Ms Turnbull starting her role at the Cunard next month.
The report added: “Since the inspection report was received work has progressed at pace on developing a framework for the Improvement Plan which will be submitted to Ofsted in September.”
Councillors will discuss the report at Liverpool Town Hall on Thursday July 13 at 5pm.
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