Worst children’s services face takeover, PM says
BBC News | Education | 14 December 2015
Moves to make it easier to take over council children’s services failing vulnerable youngsters in England have been announced by the prime minister.
Departments judged inadequate by Ofsted will be given six months to improve and then be taken over by high-performing councils and charities if they fail.
A handful of councils that were failing children are already run by trusts.
But the new measures will see the existing framework for takeovers speeded up and formalised.
Where departments fail to improve within six months of a poor Ofsted inspection, a new “commissioner” will be appointed and experts in child protection sent in.
In the past, where children’s services have been taken over, the process has been far more “ad hoc”, says the government.
It will now send experts in to three councils in a process that could see them run by independent trusts.
Abstract: Analysis by Hannah Richardson
Struggling child protection services have been under the spotlight following a series of high-profile deaths of at-risk children such as Peter Connelly and Daniel Pelka.
And moves to take troubled services out of council hands are more a continuation of the direction of travel rather than a radical new step.
What David Cameron is really talking about is formalising and streamlining the process.
But the model the government wants to use is pretty much untested.
Eleven months after Doncaster was taken over by an independent trust, it is still deemed to be failing.
Some academics say with cuts biting at early intervention services and social services budgets, what is needed is better funding and a reduced case load, rather than a new structure.
