Update on Blackpool Council plans to improve children's services despite Outstanding Ofsted report

Blackpool is looking at ways to improve aspects of its Children’s Services despite the authority receiving its best ever Ofsted report earlier this year.

The council-run services achieved Outstanding judgements in three key areas, along with a Good rating in the other - an impressive outcome for an authority in one of Britain’s most deprived areas.

However, a council report says key areas still need to be improved, including ongoing issues with child neglect, a shortage of care homes, an excessive workload for Blackpool’s children’s services staff and evidencing the impact of interventions on children and families.

The Ofsted inspection took place from June 1 to 19 and involved a week of off-site activity, including data sharing and analysis and two weeks of on-site inspection.

The authority was rated Outstanding for the impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families; a Good judgement for the experiences and progress of children who need help and protection; an Outstanding judgement for the experiences and progress of children in care; and an Outstanding judgement for the experiences and progress of care leavers.

A report has been prepared for this week’s Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee which will give committee members a chance to assess progress since the inspection report.

What report says

The report said of the Ofsted rating: “This is the best inspection outcome that Blackpool Children's Social Care has ever achieved.

“This outcome reflects the hard work and commitment of Children’s Services family workers, social workers, personal assistants, child protection chairs, independent reviewing officers, and all their managers in supporting children, young people, and families in Blackpool.

“It also reflects the support and commitment that the whole Council has provided to Children's Services.

“Whilst Children’s Services is delighted with the inspection outcome, it remains committed to continuous improvement and addressing areas for further development.

“Although the report is overwhelmingly positive, there are areas where further improvement is required.”

One of the key areas that Children’s Services need to strengthen is evidencing the impact of interventions and the outcomes they achieve for children and families.

The report said: “Ofsted identified that plans had not always been sufficiently outcome-focused and that Children’s Services is not yet as effective as it could be at demonstrating the difference that interventions are making.

“To address this, it will need to be ensured that plans and reviews more clearly evidence the changes that have occurred for children and families.

“Improvements in plans and reviews will be achieved through stronger management oversight of children's plans and interventions. Children’s Services will ensure that all plans contain clearer, sharper and measurable outcomes that are supported by realistic timescales for achievement.”

Improving Children’s Service’s ability to evidence and achieve meaningful change is particularly important in relation to neglect, which remains a significant challenge in Blackpool.

Although substantial progress has been made in identifying and assessing neglect, further improvement is needed to ensure that interventions result in measurable improvements in children's daily lived experiences.

This means ensuring practitioners recognise when support is not changing parental behaviour, that cases are escalated quickly enough, and that the impact of interventions are clearly evidenced and used to inform future decision-making.

Another area identified by Ofsted for continued development related to the sufficiency of homes for Blackpool children.

Children’s Services are addressing this through efforts to increase fostering provision, including the development of an End to End Fostering Hub, the further expansion of Blackpool’s Mockingbird programme, an extended-family support network for foster carers and young people

They are also working with providers in and around Blackpool to ensure that the right homes are available to meet the needs of the children.

A further issue identified by Ofsted was workload pressures and the impact these can have on the workforce.

The report added: “Ofsted recognised that Children’s Services have created an excellent culture and that it performs well in both recruiting and retaining staff.

“However, inspectors observed that caseloads remain too high across a number of areas. They recognised the support available to staff but concluded that reducing workload pressures should remain a priority.

“Children’s Services will continue to focus on effective recruitment and retention, particularly of social workers, to address workload pressures.

“Reducing caseloads is a key priority moving forward, as it will ensure that staff have the capacity to build upon the already excellent work they are undertaking and continue to improve outcomes for children and families in Blackpool.”