An improvement plan for turning around Sefton’s troubled children’s services has been submitted to Ofsted.
The service has been mired in a series of crises that have led to a commissioner being appointed to help transform the service, which was hit with an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating earlier this year over its failings.
As part of Sefton Council’ s response to the highly critical Ofsted report and as part of its efforts to bring about changes to the service, an improvement plan was put together which has now been submitted to Ofsted.
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Although the plan itself has not yet been released publicly, key elements of what it contains have been revealed in a report produced ahead of a meeting of the council’s children’s services overview and scrutiny committee, which is due to be held tomorrow, September 27.
According to the report there are four key themes in the council’s plan to improve the borough's children’s services. These focus on quality and improving implementation of learning, tools and strategic partnerships.
The report states that part of this is “ensuring the right staff are in the right place at the right time to deliver a consistent standard of good quality safeguarding services to children and families.”
The council has been moving all staff from children’s services into one location at Magdalen House in Bootle, in the hopes of improving communication across the team.
On the leadership of the service, the report notes that a “stable and experienced leadership team ” is the key to change, with work having been undertaken to ensure senior roles are recruited for on a permanent basis.
A continued focus on creating a permanent workforce through effective recruitment is part of the plan to build on progress to date, according to the report.
Other measures will include developing an action plan, practice standards, a “data warehouse” and reviewing business support and in-house fostering.
Feedback will be given on the improvement plan by Ofsted following its review. The plan has also been shared with members of the overview and scrutiny committee, who will discuss the report at Southport Town Hall tomorrow evening.
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