Government must end complacency over children at risk of harm

16 December 2016

Public Accounts Committee report finds there is still no credible plan to improve services and grow quality social work force.

Less than a quarter of services judged "good" by Ofstead

The Government is too slow to act to improve child protection services and must set out detailed plans to transform them, the Committee says.

In the report, the Committee concludes progress since the Munro report was published in 2011 has been too slow, with less than a quarter of services judged by Ofsted as Good—"by no standards" an improvement.

The Committee warns variations in the quality and consistency of help and protection services is leaving children at risk of harm and stresses the need for urgent action to address this.

In particular, Government should explain how it will ensure minimum standards so that all children have equal access to high-quality services.

No belief that the Departments has a "credible plan"

The Committee does not believe the Department for Education has a credible plan to improve the system by 2020 and finds it still has no evidence of what works.

It urges the Department to "set out detailed plans, including a timetable and resources, for how it will work with local authorities to transform services" and also set out plans to improve the sharing of best practice.

The Department should work with Ofsted to get more timely assurance on the quality of children's services, and explain how it will better intervene to prevent problems identified locally from escalating.

Problems with the competency of "too many social workers"

It should also set out "how it will attract more high calibre people to social work and how it will ensure that training and assessment is relevant to their work".

The Report states: "Despite some excellent practice, there is a problem with the competency and capability of too many social workers, and not enough good people to help improve services faster."

Chair's comments

Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the PAC, said:

"Government complacency over improving children's services must end now.
There are nearly 800,000 children in need of help or protection every year—children who for far too long have been let down by the support available.
It is completely unacceptable that, six years after the launch of a major review of child protection services, so little progress has been made.
Government has now set itself a target of 2020 to transform the system, a time frame which better serves Whitehall than it does vulnerable young people in need of help.
Even then there is a serious risk of past mistakes being repeated. For change to be effective it must be based on evidence of what works, a point Government accepts but has yet to act on properly.
When things are going wrong locally it must intervene earlier—and to do that, it must use the information available to monitor and address emerging problems.
It is not good enough to wait for the verdict of Ofsted's routine inspections. Some local authority services have not been inspected for five years; the overall cycle is behind schedule and Government action comes too late for children already failed by the system.
If Ofsted is to be effective it must be properly resourced to deliver timely verdicts. Ofsted's chief inspector last year told the Public Accounts Committee he would be happy to inspect children's services more regularly, so why has the Government not taken this up?
There is much at stake here and by the Spring I will expect the Department for Education to provide us with clear plans to drive the improvements that are woefully overdue."

Report summary

Children in need of help or support are, by definition, among the most vulnerable members of our society, often facing neglect or abuse.

But, for far too long, services for the nearly 800,000 children in need of help or protection every year have not been good enough.

In 2010 the Department for Education recognised that services had to improve and started to introduce a series of reforms. In 2011 the Munro review on improving the child protection system was published.

Department seemed "worryingly complacent" on improvements

But progress on improving help and protection services for children has been too slow and six years later only 23% of services are judged by Ofsted as Good. By no standards can this be seen as an improvement.

The Department seemed to us worryingly complacent that nothing can be done to improve services more quickly.

The Department's newly stated ambition to improve services by 2020 is welcome but the Department lacks a credible plan for how and by when it will make a difference and ensure that local authorities are intervening effectively to make a difference to these children's lives.

The Committee will continue to monitor the Department's slow progress in improving children's services and will return to the subject during the course of this Parliament.

Further information

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