Optimism Sandwell's children services will finally shed 'inadequate' rating

Bosses at Sandwell Children’s Trust said they are optimistic the social services will shed the ‘inadequate’ rating when Ofsted comes to do a full inspection later this year.

Former Labour Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who heads up the trust, told a council children’s services and education scrutiny board a number of improvements had been made.

But she warned there was still work to be done in crucial areas such as securing permanence for children in care and stabilising its workforce.

At Monday’s meeting, committee members heard how the number of referrals and repeat referrals were on the decrease, as were Section 47 child protection enquiries.

There were 59 children who had three or more moves in the last 12 months but an increase in the number remaining in the same placement for two years.

Two recent monitoring visits by inspectors also brought positive news with Sandwell’s previously ‘inadequate’ fostering services now rated ‘good’.

And of services for children in care, a lead inspector was quoted as saying: ‘We can see tangible progress. However there remains a lot more to do to secure permanence for many children in care’.

The trust was set up in 2018 as an independent body to take over children’s services from the council due to the poor performance.

Ms Smith said: “When we got to the beginning of 2020, we were due to have an Ofsted inspection and we believed we were in a position when we were likely to move out of that (inadequate) category.

“Sadly, the pandemic rightly put a pause on inspections so we’ve now had to wait for another two years until we are going to be in a position where Ofsted will be able to return to judge the performance of the services.

“I am optimistic that when Ofsted return for their full inspection later on this year, we will have moved out of that inadequate category.

“Part of the reason why I’m optimistic is because of the progress that has been made in that time, some of which has been identified by Ofsted themselves.

“They looked at our fostering services and unfortunately a couple of years ago we had to report to this committee we had an inadequate investigation so I’m very pleased the most recent time when Ofsted came they were able to determine they were now ‘good’.

“Considerable progress has been made in that important area of our work.

“They also returned last year and looked particularly at our services for children in care and I think the headline was they’d seen tangible progress of the work of that service and the work of the trust.

“Those things are encouraging. There are clearly still areas we need to work hard in order to provide the service we want to and what children and families in Sandwell need.

“Ofsted have commented favourably of the way in which we’ve kept children safe and kept in touch with them during the pandemic and they way we’ve done that in a constructive partnership with the council.

“I’m also pleased to be able to report to the committee that, one of the challenges children’s services faced in Sandwell particularly before the trust was a turbulence in leadership.

“It makes it difficult to drive improvement. We are now in a position where we have a permanent leadership team.

“We understand one of the biggest areas of challenge for us is around our staffing.

“There is a national and regional issue with the number of social workers who are available particularly to work on a permanent basis and we’re experiencing that challenge.

“We have consistently focused on recruiting and bringing people to Sandwell, making it a place where people want to work and stay. Making it somewhere people feel able to do their very best work.”

She also added actions were being taken to address concerns raised by a whistleblower in a book Sandwell Children’s Trust: Toxic Work Environment, published last year.

Said said: “Ofsted, in their most recent visit, did note staff felt supported. That will clearly remain a priority going forward.

“I know we need to keep and care for the very best workers in order to ensure we provide the very best for the children and families who depend on us.”