Setting

Ms Kath Tunstall Strategic Director, Services to Children and Young People City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council City Hall Bradford West Yorkshire BD1 1HY

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children’s services

This letter summarises the findings of the recent unannounced inspection of contact, referral and assessment arrangements within local authority children’s services in the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council which was conducted on 23 and 24 November 2010. The inspection was carried out under section 138 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006. It will contribute to the annual review of the performance of the authority’s children’s services, for which Ofsted will award a rating later in the year. I would like to thank all of the staff we met for their assistance in undertaking this inspection.

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children’s services

The inspection sampled the quality and effectiveness of contact, referral and assessment arrangements and their impact on minimising any child abuse and neglect. Inspectors considered a range of evidence, including: electronic case records; supervision files and notes; observation of social workers undertaking referral and assessment duties; and other information provided by staff and managers. Inspectors also spoke to a range of staff including managers, social workers, other practitioners and administrative staff.

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children’s services

The inspection identified areas of strength and areas of practice that met requirements, with some areas for development.

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children’s services

The areas of development identified at the previous inspection of contact, referral and assessment arrangements in 2009 have all been effectively addressed.

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children’s services

The area of priority action identified at the previous inspection of contact, referral and assessment arrangements in 2009 has been effectively addressed. Freshford House Redcliffe Way Bristol BS1 6NL T 0300 1231231 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk Direct T 03000 130570

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children’s services

Safeguarding.lookedafterchildren@ofsted.gov.uk From the evidence gathered, the following features of the service were identified:

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Strengths

ƒ Managers’ decisions and good detailed directions for staff at each stage of the assessment process are routinely and well recorded on individual case files along with the decisions and outcomes from regular supervision sessions. These support social workers very effectively to maintain and enhance the quality of their casework.

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Strengths

ƒ Staff report a very good range of well-focused and very regular training provided by different agencies which they are encouraged and enabled to attend and which effectively supports them to deliver good quality services.

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Strengths

ƒ The children with disabilities team use a wide range of methods to communicate with children in child protection enquiries which enables them to identify the children’s concerns more precisely and effectively.

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following areas

ƒ Commonly agreed thresholds issued by Bradford Safeguarding Children Board are specific, underpinned by helpful guidance, and are applied by partner agencies.

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following areas

ƒ Effective arrangements are in place to respond promptly and appropriately to contacts and referrals and these safeguard children well.

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following areas

ƒ All cases are allocated promptly and appropriately prioritised and no children were found to be at risk during the inspection. Child protection enquiries are always undertaken by suitably qualified and experienced social workers.

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following areas

ƒ Out-of-hours arrangements for receiving and responding to referrals are effective and appropriate links to daytime services are in place.

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following areas

ƒ Initial and core assessments and child protection enquiries are completed in a timely way.

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following areas

ƒ Referrers are routinely informed of the outcomes of their referrals.

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following areas

ƒ The quality of assessments, analyses and conclusions in the files inspected is at least adequate and in many cases is good.

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following areas

ƒ Work is focused well on the needs of children and the views of children and families inform case planning.

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following areas

ƒ Staff address diversity issues well in their assessments and work with families.

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following areas

ƒ Recording in cases seen by inspectors is kept up-to-date and the quality is at least adequate and in many cases is good.

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following areas

ƒ Assessment teams are appropriately resourced, workloads are manageable, and effective arrangements ensure the timely transfer of cases to other teams.

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following areas

ƒ Accessible and supportive managers provide good day-to-day support and regular supervision.

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following areas

ƒ Learning from serious case reviews is well disseminated to enhance awareness and practice.

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following areas

ƒ Partner agencies are working well to extend the use of the common assessment framework and the number of assessments has doubled in the past year although it is acknowledged that further work is needed to fully and effectively engage all agencies and staff.

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following areas

ƒ Senior and middle managers demonstrate strong ambition and commitment to continually improve outcomes and effectively use good performance information with staff to drive improvement.

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following areas

ƒ Service users’ views are routinely sought and used well to influence service delivery.

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following areas

ƒ Well-established partnership arrangements work effectively at strategic and operational levels.

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Areas for development

ƒ Case files do not always include chronologies.

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Areas for development

ƒ The number of domestic violence notifications sent to social care by the police results in a higher than necessary workload for assessment teams and both partners recognise the need to streamline this process so that referrals are clearly differentiated from notifications sent for information purposes.

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Areas for development

Any areas for development identified above will be specifically considered in any future inspection of services to safeguard children within your area.

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Her Majesty’s Inspector

Copy: Tony Reeves, Chief Executive, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council Professor Nick Frost, Chair of Bradford Safeguarding Children Board Ralph Berry, Lead Member for Children’s Services, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council Andrew Spencer, Department for Education

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