The Children's Services Scrutiny Panel of Tameside Council met on 12 June 2024 to discuss the recent Ofsted inspection of Tameside Children’s Services and review the Children’s Services Performance and Quality Assurance Scorecard. The panel also addressed the annual budget letter and the scrutiny activity report for 2023/24.

Ofsted Inspection of Children’s Services

The panel welcomed Councillor Bill Fairfoull, Deputy Executive Leader (Children & Families), and Allison Parkinson, Director of Children’s Services, to discuss the outcomes of the recent Ofsted inspection. The inspection, conducted from 4 to 15 December 2023, resulted in an overall judgement of Inadequate for Tameside Children’s Services. Specific areas graded included:

• The impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families
• The experiences and progress of children who need help and protection
• The experiences and progress of children in care
• The experiences and progress of care leavers

The services for care leavers were judged as Requires Improvement to be good. The panel reviewed the updated Tameside Children’s Social Care Improvement Plan (February 2024), which outlines efforts to secure immediate improvements based on Ofsted's recommendations. Key points included:

• Leaders and staff working hard across all areas to secure immediate improvements
• Adoption of a whole system approach
• The voice of children and families being central to all actions
• Appointment of a Department for Education (DfE) Advisor
• Plans to stabilise the number of children in care

Councillor Fairfoull emphasised that the Ofsted feedback and recommendations were accepted in full, and the inspection provided an opportunity to raise standards and improve outcomes. The Director of Children’s Services highlighted the need for a sustainable model to support vulnerable children and redirect unnecessary demand from formal social care to early help and preventative services.

The discussion also covered:

• Assurance measures and monitoring improvements in social work practice
• Workforce pressures and staff morale
• Timeliness of interventions and addressing drift and delay
• Permanence planning and placement sufficiency
• Effective engagement and participation of children and young people
• Multi-agency response to risk
• Pressures on families and children experiencing neglect
• Effectiveness of the Front Door (MASH¹)
• Collective ambition and commitment to improving services for children

The panel agreed that improvement planning, delivery, and performance monitoring should be included in the Scrutiny Panel’s annual work programme for 2024/25.

Children’s Performance

The panel reviewed the Children’s Services Performance and Quality Assurance Scorecard, which included key indicators and areas for improvement. The data covered:

• Contacts, referrals, and screening in MASH
• Child in need, child protection plans, and children looked after
• Health outcomes
• Children in care who are missing
• Children and young people leaving care, including accommodation and education, employment, or training (EET)
• Caseloads

The panel decided that performance data and information aligned to the Brilliant at the Basics initiative should be routinely reviewed.

Scrutiny Annual Budget Letter

The Chair presented the response letter sent to the First Deputy (Finance, Resources & Transformation) and the Director of Resources following the annual budget update received on 19 January 2024.

Scrutiny Activity 2023/24

The Chair reported on the summary of the Scrutiny Panel’s activity during the year, presented at the joint meeting of Cabinet and Overview Panel on 14 February 2024.