Cheshire East is one of 20 local authorities where the standard of child protection services has been judged by Ofsted to be 'inadequate'.
Ofsted's first stand-alone Social Care Annual Report finds that in a climate of turbulence, increased workloads and intense scrutiny of children's social care – much of it arising from public anxiety following a catalogue of high profile child deaths – many areas are struggling to improve their performance.
At the end of the first full three-year cycle of inspections, only four in 10 local authorities were judged to be 'good' or better for safeguarding children. And there are 20 local authorities (13 per cent) judged by Ofsted as 'inadequate' for their child protection arrangements at the time of their most recent inspection.
Launching the report, HM Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, said "As it stands today there are 20 councils where the standard of child protection is unacceptably poor and judged to be inadequate.
"Incompetent and ineffective leadership must be addressed quickly. But where those in leadership positions have capacity and potential, this must be recognised and nurtured.
"Too much leadership volatility in social care is counter-productive – that goes without saying. One in three local authorities has had a change in their Director of Children's Services last year alone. The combination of unstable communities and political and managerial instability in our social care services is a dangerous mix."
Ofsted's National Director for Social Care, Debbie Jones, said "The picture of performance we are publishing today shows there is clearly an on-going need for improvement.
"Some services are increasingly expert at reducing risk, helping families to look after their children and enabling children at risk in their area to make good progress.
"It can be done, and therefore it must be done in all areas, equally well. Ofsted will be rigorous in holding local councils and social care providers to account but we will also support them to make the improvements that children deserve."
The watchdog report on Cheshire East Council's child protection services was published following an unannounced inspection in March. For more information about Ofsted's report and Council Leader Michael Jones' response see my previous article 'Ofsted rates Cheshire East's child protection services as inadequate'.
The 20 councils judged to provide inadequate child protection services are: Barnsley, Bexley, Birmingham, Blackpool, Calderdale, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire East, Cumbria, Devon, Doncaster, Herefordshire, Isle of Wight, Kingston/Thames, Medway, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Rochdale, Sandwell, Slough and Somerset.
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