Birmingham Specifically Highlighted In Annual Report

A new report from Ofsted has raised serious concerns over efforts to safeguard children, with Birmingham being particularly pinpointed as a local authority which needs to improve in the area.

The first Social Care Annual Report called for strong leadership to be provided to tackle the issue, with figures showing that 17 local authorities were judged inadequate in the past year in terms of their handling of such cases.

However, it also found that of those authorities, 11 had a new director of children’s services recently installed and 12 had seen major changes in senior leadership prior to their inspection.

Only four in ten local authorities were deemed to be good or better for safeguarding children. Birmingham particularly came in for criticism, with Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw describing its bad practice as “a national disgrace”.

The release of the report has come after Ofsted launch a short consultation on proposals for its regulation of social work providers and the inspection of statutory functions delegated to them by councils.

Expert Opinion

This new report from Ofsted has highlighted incredibly worrying issues which urgently need to be tackled. <br/> <br/>“A number of high-profile, recent cases have shown the devastating consequences which can emerge when failings occur in the safeguarding of children and the hope since such cases is that lessons would be definitely learned. <br/> <br/>“However, this report shows there remains much to be done to ensure clear leadership is in place at local authorities and councils themselves have a clear direction and strategy on tackling the issue. <br/> <br/>“The lives of a great number of children are at risk if improvements are not made and we would urge councils identified as a concern to work quickly to tackle the issues they currently face.” Luke Daniels - Partner