BASW England response to the Ofsted report into Solihull Council’s children’s services

An Ofsted report into Solihull Council’s children’s services has highlighted ‘serious and widespread failings’ in the department which has received an ‘inadequate’ rating.

The report comes less than a year after the National Review into the murders of Star Hobson as well as Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, the latter of which lived in Solihull. Our response to this review can be found here.

The loss of any child in such circumstances is a loss too many and our heartfelt condolences remain with the family, friends and those affected by such tragic events.

Whilst Local Authorities are rightly scrutinised for their work, especially when there have been failings, BASW England reaffirms our belief that social workers and wider children’s services need further support in the face of unprecedented challenges which have culminated after over a decade of national funding cuts to local services.

Jon McGowan, Social Worker’s Union General Secretary, rightly pointed out in an interview with BBC West Midlands that “social workers are just firefighting at the moment…they’re only dealing with high-level situations and they’ve not had the time to deal with lower level referrals which obviously lead to higher levels if not addressed”.

Commenting on the report, BASW UK’s Chief Executive Officer Ruth Allen: ‘It is vital that services are provided with sufficient support as well as challenge to turn around when they receive negative inspection from Ofsted and the inevitable public, media, and sector scrutiny that terrible child deaths invoke. Services lose valued staff, have difficulties recruiting and struggle to get back on their feet and improve.  The people of Solihull need to know services are being brought to the standard they require through the right resourcing, recruitment and retention of able staff, system improvement help and real understanding of local communities.’

Government must understand its role in supporting local children’s services and deliver the sufficient funding needed to recruit and retain social workers who continue to face an increased demand of services and growing caseloads.

As the national safeguarding review concluded last year, child protection systems in England must be strengthened and this must include feasible workloads, more social workers with access to highest quality ongoing training and great supervision, and real recognition of the time, skills and resources needed to protect children in complex situations.

Solihull Council’s response to the report can be found here.