Concerns raised over fostering stocktake’s recommendation
Grave concerns have been raised about the proposal in the recent fostering stocktake for local authorities to be able to scrap the role of Independent Reviewing Officers.
The fostering stocktake, published earlier this month, argued that there is little evidence to recommend the IRO role and local authorities should be allowed to dispense with the [...]
Considerable work needed in child protection in Tameside, says Ofsted
There is still considerable work to do to improve the quality of practice delivered to children in need of help and protection at Tameside, Ofsted has found.
While the local authority has taken action to address the previously slow pace of improvement, with some early signs of success, these changes have not yet had a sufficient [...]
Ofsted finds progress made at Slough
Slough children’s service is continuing to make progress, an Ofsted monitoring visit has found.
Social work practice is improving and assessments and plans and reviews are evident in the vast majority of children’s cases, Ofsted found in the fifth monitoring visit since the authority’s children’s services were rated inadequate in February 2016.
However, inspectors identified weaknesses in [...]
Alcohol implicated in one third of child deaths or serious injuries
Parental Alcohol Misuse was implicated in more than a third of child deaths or serious injury, a report has stated.
Between 2011 and 2014, Parental Alcohol Misuse was implicated in 37% of cases involving the death or serious injury of a child through neglect or abuse in England, a report commissioned by the All Party Parliamentary [...]
Social Work England can impose ‘conditional registration’
The new social work regulator will be allowed to prevent social workers from carrying out certain tasks as part of conditions placed on their registration, it has emerged.
A government consultation about Social Work England outlines that conditional registration will allow an individual to be registered and practise subject to conditions, such as restrictions on the [...]
Children’s services are ‘greatest pressure’ for local authorities
Children’s services are the top pressure for councils, a report about the state of local authority finance has revealed.
Children’s Services is now the top immediate pressure for councils, above Adult Social Care for the first time in at least three years, said the report, suggesting that councils are no longer able to shield these services [...]
