Herefordshire Council has been hit with an Improvement notice from the Government after a judge blasted its children s services. The notice from the Department for Education follows significant concerns raised in a recent High Court judgement which led to an urgent and thorough external review of Herefordshire Children’s Social Care Services. The improvement notice includes the appointment of Gladys Rhodes White as an improvement adviser for a minimum of 12 months, and until such time that the Secretary of State is satisfied that she is no longer required. Mrs Rhodes White will provide advice to Children’s Social Care Services and Herefordshire Council, and she will chair the improvement board which is being established from the beginning of June 2021.
A NEW interim director is among those drafted in to help turn around Herefordshire s failing children s services department after a raft of failings were exposed in a damning judgement. Councillors hit out at a culture of lies, delays, and misdirection which prevented proper scrutiny of the department, while staff were said to be too frightened to speak out against poor practice at an extraordinary meeting called to receive the judgement and vote on a series of improvement measures on April 27. But, councillors were told, action is being taken, with new interim director Cath Knowles drafted in to turn the department around under new chief executive Paul Walker, while the Department for Education has appointed improvement advisor Gladys Rhodes White.
Council vows to ‘leave no stone unturned’ in identifying social care failings following damning judgment
Members describe longstanding culture of obfuscation and delay in children’s services in approving improvement strategy drawn up in wake of false abuse allegations case
Photo: EtiAmmos/Fotolia
The recommendations were put forward at an extraordinary meeting this week where councillors described frustration at being obstructed from scrutinising children’s services and progress on previous improvement plans by “smoke and mirrors” and “slick assurances” from senior managers.
Prior to the High Court ruling in March on a special guardianship application, which found the service had “ignored” the recommendations of a senior judge and psychiatrist, the council was criticised in three court judgments in 2018.
A FULL review of all cases currently being handled by Herefordshire s children s services will take place after a damning judgement found serious failures in the department. An extraordinary meeting of Herefordshire Council heard on April 27 that the Department for Education had commissioned Essex children s services to undertake an immediate helicopter review of looked after care cases to identify issues earlier this month after a judge found a string of failures in the county s children s social care services. Essex reviewed 19 cases selected independently from a full case list and reported that there were no red flags in them. But councillor Jonathan Lester said more needed to be done to ensure the failures were not repeated.
Breaking
Herefordshire Council has been criticised by a High Court judge over failures in its children s services department COUNCILLORS have criticised a culture of lying, delay, and misdirection in Herefordshire s children s services department. Their comments came during an extraordinary meeting called after the publication of a damning judgement which found there had been egregious and long-standing failures in the county s children s services provision. Mr Justice Keehan questioned whether the council’s children’s services were fit for purpose after failures spanning more than eight years were found in the department s handling of four children who went into foster care in 2012.