Improvement plan for failing children’s services aims to be ‘brilliant at the basics’ again

After children’s services were put into special measures last month, Tameside Council has published an improvement plan to change things.

At the latest town hall meeting, council leader Cllr Ged Cooney stated they want to be “brilliant at the basics” again – and those exact words are set out in their improvement plan. Cllr Cooney likened the way they spent money at children’s services in the past to dealing with an old problematic car. 

“My thought is that a bad car costs you more than a good car over the years,” he told councillors, suggesting more money would not have improved the service under previous management.

He added: “We have to be honest with ourselves; people we paid good money to run children’s services didn’t deliver. We’ve invested a lot of good money in who we believed were the right people to run it. 

“It wasn’t about the money, but about the management. I feel we have the right people with the right focus (now).”

This comes after their children’s services department was rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted. The watchdog identified "serious failures" which left kids "being harmed" – or at "risk of harm". 

The service was deemed to ‘require improvement’ in 2019. Performance has since gone backwards and services have deteriorated.

Inspectors criticised a reliance on agency staff to deal with soaring demand. The quality of children’s assessments was "not good enough" and sometimes failed to identify risk.

The service was deemed inadequate in four categories – ‘the impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families’; ‘the experiences and progress of children who need help and protection’; ‘the experiences and progress of children in care’; and ‘overall effectiveness’.

"The experiences and progress of care leavers requires improvement to be good," inspectors said.

Before the report was published in February, the council had already implemented a new management team in August 2023. However, the Ofsted report stated it was too soon to identify the impact this had on standards.

Now the council’s improvement plan has been published, which sets out four key priorities for improvement. 

These include: improving quality of practice on a consistent basis; bettering views, experiences and engagement with children and young people; making sure they have the right resources in the right place to meet the needs of the children and families; and having the right management structure in place to inspire and support staff to be the best that they can be.

The improvement plan states they will do this through listening to feedback from children and families and working more collaboratively with partner agencies. Improvement in identifying risks, something Ofsted criticised them for, as well as making the care practice framework more clear for staff is also included in their plan.

The plan read: “It is of the utmost importance to us that we provide high quality services that are safe, effective and ensure support for our children, young people and their families enabling them to flourish and succeed. 

“Our vision is that all children, young people and families in Tameside have the best start in life to grow, thrive and achieve their best outcomes.

“We will only be successful in achieving this ambition if our organisations and communities work together to improve the wellbeing and quality of life for our children and young people across our borough. 

“We are determined to continue to improve our services for our most vulnerable children, young people and families. With our partners we are committed to ensuring all our children have the best possible start in life. 

“We believe that children should grow and achieve within their own families when it is safe for them to do so. We are committed to working together to make sure our children and young people are safe and able to reach their full potential and they remain at the heart of everything we do."

Nevertheless, there were positive outcomes from the Ofsted report to run with for Tameside Council. Inspectors said children are supported well and kept safe when they’re at risk of sexual exploitation.

Ofsted said the newly-appointed leadership team had already taken ‘swift action’ with the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) to restructure the service and increase its capacity to protect children.

The council’s deputy executive leader, Cllr Bill Fairfoull, who has responsibility over children and families, said in a statement at the time: “We accept we must – and we will – do better for our children and young people in Tameside.”

He said that at the time of the inspection that no children were at immediate risk of harm. Cllr Cooney told the full council at the latest town hall meeting that the next 12 months will see service standards raised.