DORSET'S children's services require improvement, inspectors found.

They also said that the Dorset Safeguarding Children Board (DSCB) is 'inadequate' and marked one 'serious failure.'

The Ofsted Inspection of services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers published today says the county council-council led service 'requires improvement to be good.' 

It found that the authority 'does not deal consistently quickly or well enough with all the referrals it receives about children’s and young people’s welfare.'

Council leaders say that are taking steps to improve. 

The report adds: 'While inspectors found no children or young people were left at immediate risk of significant harm, this lack of consistency means that they wait longer than they should to see a social worker, to have their needs assessed and to receive services.

'Drift and delay in such cases generally stemmed from poor management oversight and decision making.

'Measures to strengthen management oversight are either not yet in place or too recent to have had a significant impact. Despite this, most referrals are dealt with effectively, and the work of the Multi-Agency Information Sharing Team, which deals with referrals from the police and those relating to domestic abuse, is strong.

'While some early help services, such as Dorset Families Matter, are strong, overall, the local authority and partner agencies are not working well enough together to provide a cohesive early help offer.'

The report lists 18 recommendations to improve the service. 

It also says the number of children looked after by Dorset council 'has risen significantly over the past 12 months. This rise stems from a sharper focus on identifying those children and young people whose welfare can only be secured by becoming looked after.'

Responding to the report, 

Cllr Rebecca Knox, the county council’s Cabinet member for Children’s Safeguarding said: 

“I am pleased the report recognises the considerable progress that has been made since the leadership team was appointed.

​“As the report says, the impact of a lot of the improvement work cannot yet be seen as it has not been in place long enough to have made a difference. These strategies were introduced to make sure we made progress on our journey to improvement and the report clearly shows this.   

“As part of our work to improve, we have launched a new recruitment programme to attract more social workers into Dorset and put additional training in place to support our current workforce. We are also working more closely with communities and partner agencies to help families at an earlier stage.  

“But clearly, there are still improvements that need to be made. Vigorous plans have already been implemented to ensure we continue on our improvement journey and I remain, as do children’s services staff, committed to ensuring all children in Dorset receive the best possible service.”

DSCB 'inadequate'

Ofsted has issued a number of recommendations for the Dorset Safeguarding Children Board, which is in place to oversee the effectiveness of agencies working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people.

Inspectors found that: 'The Dorset Safeguarding Children Board is not effectively discharging its statutory functions. These include failing to adequately monitor the effectiveness of help being provided to children, young people and their families, including early help.

'This is a serious failure because it restricts the board’s ability to understand the key issues affecting local operational practice, whether DSCB partners are fulfilling their statutory obligations and the difference agencies are making for children and young people.'

The report adds: 'The board is not engaging with agencies at a strategic level to provide challenge and leadership. It is not working with the Health and Well-being Board, as statutory guidance directs, or with partner agencies in the Dorset Children’s Trust.

'Agencies also report that they have struggled to fulfil board responsibilities due to a lack of capacity across the partnership. However, partners now express a shared commitment to drive forward improvements in the board’s efficacy. Additional capacity has recently been added to the board’s business support to help this focus on improvement and the future work of the DSCB (Recommendation).'

Read the full report here