Trafford children's services are improving after being branded 'inadequate'

Ofsted inspectors have come back to Trafford after slamming its children's services as "inadequate" last year.  The social services watchdog found improvements in the borough's provision but identified areas that still need work.  Inspectors gave Trafford Council a dressing-down in March 2019 and said, since the last inspection in 2015, there had been "widespread deterioration" of service quality across the borough.  Then, inspectors said senior leaders in the Trafford service "had no awareness of the decline" and were "unaware of significant weaknesses".  Ofsted found that many children in need of early help in the borough were not getting the support they needed fast enough and the council's response to children's needs had left some children living in neglectful situations for too long.  The watchdog added that the council did not support children enough to give their own feedback on the services they were receiving.  Now, things look to be on the up but there are important areas that still need to be improved.  Outgoing interim head of children's service Ged Rowney presented a summary of Ofsted findings to Trafford Council's children and young people's scrutiny committee and said the service was four months into a two year improvement programme.  According to the report he presented, awareness within the service of areas that need improvement is getting better.  Fewer children in Trafford are being given Child Protection Plans as the service is intervening in cases earlier.  The number of looked after children in Trafford is now at its lowest level since August 2018.  Team caseloads are also lower and better managed for social workers. Each team has a ratio of one manager per six social workers and each team holds 20 cases.  The aim for the service is to now plan for continuous improvement.  However, there are still areas to work on, including the service's "very high" use and turnover of agency staff; which currently requires substantial spending. Trafford news  We have a dedicated page bringing you all the latest news, events and community news in Trafford.  To keep up to date with all that is happening in Trafford - and to join in the discussion - follow the page here.  And you can also follow us on .  Similarly, health measures for looked after children in Trafford continue to perform below expectations.  The report said that "most notably," initial health assessments for children coming into care were still not being carried out on time.  Legally, a child needs to be assessed within 20 days of being brought under the care of the local authority - this still isn't happening in some cases.  The number of child protection plans put in place has also been "volatile" between August 2019 and now, according to the report, this inconsistency is something the service wants to address.  A spokesperson for Trafford Council said: “There has been major progress on improving services since the Ofsted report. The council has increased staffing

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