Sandwell’s child protection arrangements found to be inadequate
New director of children’s services appointed
Ofsted has published a report on Sandwell MBC's child protection services. It has found the services inadequate and requires the following immediate action:
- When the police and social workers are finding out whether children are safe they need to get better at working together to make sure they do what they are supposed to do.
- When social workers collect information so they can understand children's needs and make sure they are protected, they need to get better at talking to children and asking them for their views.
- When children are in need of help the council must make sure that there is a good plan for each of them that makes it clear what needs to change and by when.
The local authority has responded to the report by appointing a new cabinet member, Simon Hackett, to lead the department and a new director of children's services, Simon White. The appointments comes shortly after the launch of a new 30 month contract between the council and iMPOWER which is intended to transform children's services in Sandwell.
The full report can be read here.