‘Failing’ Doncaster council stripped of control of children’s services

The move, thought to be the first of its kind in the country, was the main recommendation in a report published today which warned children’s services in the town “are unlikely to get significantly better without a radical change.”

But the decision has been met with disappointment in the council which recently bagan work with an outside consultancy to drive up standards in the department.

Ros Jones, Doncaster’s elected mayor, said: “We have only this month started work with our improvement partner and a new director of children’s services and would have wanted to show how we can and will improve, however that opportunity has been denied us.

“We are one of two councils in the country which has taken the innovative step of working with an improvement partner and we believe we should not be distracted from improving children’s services.

“The report, in my view, is backward looking, historical and does not give enough credit or credence for what we want to achieve.”

Mr Gove commissioned the report into the future of Doncaster’s children’s services earlier this year in the wake of a string of criticisms of the department.

The Government first intervened in 2009 following the deaths of seven children in five years. A report by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) last year described arrangements for keeping children safe in the district as “inadequate”.

Today’s report said a “decisive break” was needed to move on from failings that saw seven children die in five years.

In March 2009, the government ordered a takeover of Doncaster’s children’s services. Less than a year later a serious case review found the attacks in the nearby town of Edlington in which two young boys were tortured by two brothers, aged 11 and 12, had been “preventable”.

Today’s report said: “There needs to be a line drawn under the historic failure, a separation that permits the development of a new culture - one of development, improvement and innovation, instead of one of frustration, disillusion and stagnation.”

Mr Gove said he hoped the trust would be operational by next April.

“The review panel recommends that, when improvements to the service are secure and confidence in Doncaster Council’s ability to deliver children’s social care functions is gained, those services should return to council control,” he wrote in a letter to Ms Jones.

“My intention is therefore to establish the trust for a 10-year period, with a review point after five years.

“Progress of both the trust and the council’s capacity to deliver its functions can be assessed at that stage and a decision taken as to whether the continue.”

Today’s report comes only a month after Doncaster Council announced a private company was being brought in to help run its children’s services and a new director was appointed.

It said consultants iMPOWER would work alongside the authority to “develop the new approaches required to meet today’s challenges”.

The council has been under intense scrutiny since the shocking incident in Edlington in 2009.

The perpetrators had been in the care of the local authority and reports later found child protection in Doncaster to have been “symbolic” at the time.

The serious case review into what happened in Edlington concluded the attack was “a preventable incident” and identified “more than 30 opportunities that could, with different and clearer judgement and action have reduced the harm suffered by (the brothers) and their harm to others”.

Last year, Mr Gove said the weaknesses remained in Doncaster’s children protection services despite improvements since 2009.

And an Ofsted report last year found that all areas of Doncaster’s child protection services were inadequate and the council could not be confident that all children known to the children and young people’s services were safe.

Mr Gove said the situation was “unacceptable, and needs radical change and improvement”.

The council admitted at the time that progress had not yet come far enough but stressed that better child protection work had meant a massive increase in workload.

It also said it was having huge difficulties in attracting experienced social work professionals to work in Doncaster.

Labour mayor Ms Jones, who was elected in May, said: “I have made it clear since the moment I was announced as mayor that children’s services was my top priority and what matters above everything else is improving outcomes for Doncaster’s children and families.

“That remains the case. I am disappointed that it is being recommended that an independent trust is the way children’s services could be delivered in Doncaster.

“I don’t agree with the ‘outsourcing’ recommendation and feel that Doncaster Council has not been given the opportunity to show how we can improve under my leadership.

“We have only, this month, started work with our improvement partner and a new Director of Children’s Services and would have wanted to show how we can and will improve, however that opportunity has been denied us. We are one of two councils in the country which has taken the innovative step of working with an improvement partner and we believe we should not be distracted from improving children’s services. The report, in my view, is backward looking and historical and does not give enough credit or credence for what we want to achieve.

“We now have weeks to respond to the consultation on the trust proposal. Whatever the outcome, I am clear that the future of children’s services is of vital importance to me as Mayor and we will work with whatever option is determined and with whoever is brought in to better the future of young people and children in our borough.”

The Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE) said the establishment of a new trust could be distraction from “a core focus on front-line services”.

It said this could mean the “ball is dropped” on safeguarding children.

Mark Rogers, the chief executive of Solihull Council and SOLACE lead on children’s services, said: “Doncaster children’s services needs stability and consistency to allow it to improve.

“Doncaster has struggled resolve a number of fundamental cultural problems in recent years leading to a vicious cycle of recruitment and retention difficulties.

“We are sceptical that a complex, uncertain and time-consuming organisational restructure would be helpful at this time.

“The Department for Education and Ofsted need to give any model the time and space to achieve sustainable improvement.”

He said that while he understood the Government wanted independent oversight of children’s services in Doncaster, this proposal would weaken the ability of local elected leaders to hold the department to account.

Mr Rogers said the service has had at least six external inspections and reports in eight years and this has not provided improvement support.

“Repeated interventions serve only to damage local accountability, destabilise improvement plans and undermine the very progress it intends to galvanise,” he said.

Andrew Webb, president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS), said: “We must remain mindful of the potential unintended consequences of creating a trust for one aspect of a local authority’s children’s services, both in respect of the statutory roles of the director of children’s services and the lead member and in delivering an integrated response to local communities.

“Any new arrangements must be fully engaged with the wider work of the local authority to ensure that potentially negative fragmentation of services does not occur.”

Mr Webb said: “ADCS would want to be assured that improving outcomes for local children, young people and families is the driving force behind any intervention or structural change.”

In a joint statement following the publication of today’s report, Doncaster’s MPs, Ed Miliband, Caroline Flint and Rosie Winterton, said: “As local MPs, our first concern has always been that Doncaster Council and its partner agencies always do what is best to safeguard Doncaster’s children. This has and will always be the most important consideration.

“There are a number of details to be resolved regarding resources and how Doncaster Council’s elected representatives and staff will be involved in any changes.

“Most of all, as MPs we want to see an effective structure for safeguarding children that everyone in Doncaster can understand and support.”