Reading Maintains Child Protection Rating Despite Tougher Test

Reading Maintains Child Protection Rating Despite Tougher Test

23/04/2013
Reading Borough Council Press Release

AN UNANNOUNCED inspection of child protection services in Reading last month has found it is performing adequately.

It means Reading has maintained the rating despite the introduction by Ofsted of significantly harder tests this year for all local Council’s and their partner agencies.

A detailed report – published today (April 23) at http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/local-authorities/reading – describes child protection in Reading as ‘a service that is doing what is required to keep children and young people safe.’

The Ofsted report states: “Since the last inspection of safeguarding and services for looked after children in February 2012 progress has been made in strengthening arrangements for identifying children and young people at risk of significant harm and responding to their needs.”

Child protection and safeguarding in Reading is provided by the Borough Council in close conjunction with a number of partner agencies including Thames Valley Police and NHS Berkshire West. It is overseen by the Reading Safeguarding Children Board (RSCB).There are 172 children or young people in Reading subject to child protection plans and the snap Ofsted inspection considered key aspects of a child’s journey through the child protection system and the effectiveness of the help and protection on offer.

Ofsted inspectors visited Reading between March 11 – 20 and found: “Social workers and staff in other agencies whose job it is to keep children and young people safe work hard and are committed to helping children and their families. People act quickly when a child or young person needs to be protected.”

As part of their inspection, Ofsted noted an improvement in the timeliness of initial assessments - now in line with those of statistical neighbours - and significant progress in securing a more stable workforce. Caseloads for Council social workers were described in the report as ‘manageable.’

The inspection report goes on to say: “Most of the time, children and young people who need extra help get good support and advice early on before problems get very big or much more difficult to sort out. People and services that help make sure that parents are involved at an early stage."

The report adds: “Many of the parents who spoke to inspectors felt things were getting better.”

Ofsted noted that Reading Borough Council had protected children’s services provision in both the 2012/13 and 2013/14 budgets and inspectors wrote: “Elected members, the Managing Director of the Council, Director of Education, Social Services and Housing and senior managers all show ambition for the Council in maintaining high quality services to protect and safeguard vulnerable children and young people. Ambition is shared by partner agencies and reflected in the allocation of resources to meet service needs and demands.”

The Ofsted also refers to a fall in the number of young people committing serious crimes and breaking the law in Reading and the fact children and young people were benefitting from a diverse range of early help and preventative services.

A number of recommendations for improvements were made, the main one being the need for all agencies to be clear about when to refer children and young people to the Council’s Child Protection Team. Inspectors wrote: “A significantly high number of contacts or referrals made to social care by partner agencies do not meet the jointly agreed thresholds for intervention. As a result inappropriate contacts and referrals are placing a unnecessary burden on front line social care services which potentially could divert staff resources from more serious and higher level cases.”

A number of other recommended improvements included involving children more in discussions and decision-making about their plans, and providing clearer information to make it easier for children and parents to understand why they are receiving the services they are. Reading Borough Council has already started work on an action plan to present to Ofsted outlining how it proposes to address the recommendations made.

John Ennis, Reading Borough Council’s Lead Member for Education and Children’s Services, said: “Of all the services provided by this Council, keeping vulnerable children safe is the most important of all. Despite the significantly harder test set, Reading has maintained its position and the progress that has been made is clear in this latest Ofsted report.

“ Reading has a population of more than 33,000 children or young people under the age of 17 and that population is increasing. At a time of significant budget pressure it is therefore also good to see inspectors note the Council’s on-going commitment to providing all the resource necessary to help look after the needs of the most vulnerable young people in our town.”