‘Sobering’ report shows children at ‘significant risk of harm’

Sefton Council was rocked by the findings of a shocking 2022 Ofsted inspection which identified ‘widespread failures’ across its children’s services department

Children in Sefton are still exposed to ‘significant harm’, according to Ofsted’s latest monitoring visit. The report into the children’s services in Sefton highlights weaknesses in leadership, delays in implementing child protection protocols and continual failure to support ‘children at risk of significant harm’.

Sefton Council was rocked by the findings of a shocking 2022 Ofsted inspection which identified ‘widespread failures’ in its Children’s Services department. The local authority’s services for children were described as ‘bleak’ with particular criticism levelled at the provision for highly vulnerable children who were left at risk of serious harm.

During the improvement journey of Sefton’s Children’s Services, Ofsted are carrying out regular monitoring visits to assess progress across a range of areas. In June, Ofsted visited Sefton to look at the front door of our service including how we deal with children and families in the initial stages as well as out of hours and the timeliness of our response when concerns are raised. The latest Ofsted inspection is the sixth monitoring visit sine the inadequate report in 2022.

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In a letter to the Department for Education, published today (Thursday July 25), the monitoring inspector commented on improvements to Sefton’s ‘front door’ service, their early help offer and the increased resources assigned to domestic violence cases. Staff have been been supported by extensive training opportunities which are contributing the ongoing improvement strategy.

The report notes: “The approach to dealing with domestic abuse concerns is improving. There are now clear discussions with victims in considering children’s safety before contacting perpetrators.

“Additional resources of a dedicated Sefton’s women and children’s aid worker are enabling swift access to support victims.”

Ofsted also noted other areas of significant progress including the advancement in assessment timelines, the response to children who need help and protection outside of normal office hours and a greater rigour in responding to allegations against professional working with children. However, the watchdog also noted that ongoing investigations and the subjects of those investigations are not always shared with the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and this places ‘some children at risk of harm’.

Despite noted improvement, Ofsted found a series of significant failures in Sefton’s children’s services offer and specifically for those most at risk. The report stated: “Leaders have not taken sufficient action to tackle some of the weaknesses found at the last inspection.

“The pace of improvement in some areas is too slow where leaders are not monitoring the impact of these changes well enough. In particular, the response to children at risk of significant harm is not consistently timely or reducing risks to children sufficiently well.”

The result of these failings means children are being left in situations of ‘unassessed risk’. The report also notes that a child’s history is often not considered and hence, analysis of cumulative harm is absent and the risk to the child is missed. There was also criticism of Sefton’s provision for children in homes where domestic violence has been a factor. The report highlights how some professional wait on the consent of a parent before initiating child protection measures – even if this consent is not needed.

Ofsted said: “This practice leads to unnecessary delays in referring to social care, as well as alerting potential perpetrators of concerns prior to strategy discussions taking place. This places children at further risk of harm.”

Sefton Council has acknowledged there is ‘much more work to do’ to ensure the safety of children in the borough. Speaking following publication of Ofsted’s latest feedback, Leader of Sefton Council, Cllr Marion Atkinson said: “We thank Ofsted for their ongoing robust scrutiny of our service. Some of the messaging was sobering and it is clear we still have some very important work to do.

“It is our duty to keep children safe and respond in an appropriate and timely manner when concerns are raised. We have immediately introduced the improvements needed that were identified in the report and have asked OFSTED to come back to Sefton to review our progress in the near future.

“We are keen to build on the positive work identified in the report, but our focus will remain on those areas identified that need improvement.”