A TEAM from Essex County Council has been scrambled to assist Somerset County Council after its children’s services were branded “inadequate” by Ofsted in a damning report published on Friday.

The Department for Education has called in the team from Essex to help make improvements before making a report to Edward Timpson, minister for Children and Families.

The report said there had been a “corporate failure” to keep children safe in Somerset and that because there had been a “continual churn”

in the senior leadership team over the last ten years, it had inhibited the development of the service, severely restricting the authority’s progress and seriously affecting the quality of services to children and families.

The council said it is reinstating its “commitment to rapid improvement”

and that it was “fully accepting”

the findings of the report.

“We fully accept the key findings of thism Ofsted inspection and the shortcomings it highlights,” said Julian Wooster, who became director of children’s services two weeks ago.

“Services are not good enough and improvements need to be made quickly – and I am here to help make that happen.

“There are examples of good practice, signs that we are starting to turn a corner. We are building on those signs of improvement but it has to happen faster.”

Ofsted highlighted leadership, management and governance, partnership and quality of practice as areas which needed priority and immediate action.

Inspectors said there are widespread or serious failures which: “Cause children to be harmed or at risk of harm and in the delivery of services for looked after children and care leavers which result in their welfare not being safeguarded and promoted.

“Leaders and managers have not been able to demonstrate sufficient understanding of failures and have been ineffective in prioritising, challenging and making improvements.”

The report looked at: n Children who need help and protection; n Children looked after and achieving permanence; n Adoption performance; n Experiences and progress of care leaders; n Leadership, management and governance.

All bar adoption performance, which was given “requires improvement”, were rated inadequate by the statutory body.

The report also criticised services to protect children at risk of sexual exploitation, which were said to be underdeveloped and that plans for better interventions and services were not made when children go missing.

It said: “Partners are not fully committed or contributing effectively to the safety and protection of children and families.

“The partnership has failed to establish a shared understanding of the arrangements for early help and thresholds for children’s social care are set too high.”

Council chief executive Patrick Flaherty added: “The report highlights a need for stability and our appointment of a permanent director of children’s services is a big step forward – Julian and his team have the undivided support of this council.

Inspectors have confidence that the current senior leadership team knows what needs to be done.

“It also emphasises the need for better partnership working and we will continue to focus on that through the Improvement Board and Somerset’s Local Safeguarding Children Board.”

Despite the negatives, the report did highlight areas of the local authority’s strength including the hard work of social workers and their determination to improve outcomes for Somerset’s children and families, the current senior leadership team, which Ofsted says knows what needs to be done, and assessing health needs for children.

The Somerset Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) has also been reviewed by Ofsted and found to be inadequate.

Independent of the council, the board consists of representatives from a range of organisations including the local authority, police and health organisations, and its role is to hold agencies to account for their safeguarding arrangements and highlight areas that need improvement.

Jill Shortland, county councillor for Chard South, said: “I remain concerned about the number and cost of the agency staff the council has got.

“However, the new director is impressive and comes from an authority where children’s services are really good.

“I have spoken to the leader of that authority and he has convinced me that this is a really good officer.

Providing he gets the right support, we should see changes made, but it’s going to take time.

“The right man has been appointed but only time will tell whether he is actually in charge.”