Takeover of Bradford's beleaguered children's services department planned for next year

Bradford Council’s Children’s Services department has been rated inadequate since 2018 and repeatedly criticised by Ofsted inspectors for failing to make the necessary improvements.

In January, the Department for Education decided the council should be stripped of control over the department and a not-for-profit trust, which is set up and owned by the council but “operated at arms length”, should take charge.

The council has announced a new independent trust will take over from April 1 in 2023. It will be chaired by Eileen Milner, the former executive director at the Care Quality Commission.

Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council, said: "We’re making good progress at pace with setting up the Children’s Trust.

“We’ve been working closely with the Department for Education so that we use all the talents, skills and knowledge that we have both nationally and locally to make the improvements we need to see for the children of our district.”

It comes after Government-appointed commissioner Steve Walker conducted a three-month review of the department and concluded it does not have the capacity or capability to make the necessary improvements.

He highlighted a severe shortage of social workers and rising case loads, but also found there was “no senior leadership team in place” after three directors resigned over three years.

The council spent £17.4m on agency social workers in 2020/21 and currently spends around £1.7m a month on temporary workers.

The commissioner published his report after the council was heavily criticsed when the family of Keighley toddler Star Hobson revealed they had asked social workers to intervene five times before she was murdered by her mother’s partner Savannah Brockhill in September 2020.

A Government review of the death, published last month, found the children’s services department was “in turmoil” in 2020 and a high turnover of staff and a high volume of work made it difficult for social workers to conduct effective assessments in Star’s case.

It added: “The volume of work and significant problems with workforce stability and experience, at every level, meant assessments and work with Star and her family were too superficial and did not rigorously address the repeated concerns expressed by different family members.

“These problems were compounded by weaknesses in multi-agency working.

“Taken together, these factors had a significant impact on the professional judgements made about Star’s safety and well-being at several very critical moments; resulting in professionals not knowing about or addressing the harm she was suffering.”