SOCIAL workers in Blackburn with Darwen are facing huge pressure and mounting caseloads, inspectors have warned.

Ofsted inspectors carried out a focused visit of the council’s children’s services department last month and examined arrangements for children in need and youngsters subject to a child protection plan.

Inspectors looked at a range of evidence, including case discussions with social workers and parents and carers, and meetings with managers.

They also looked at local authority performance management and quality assurance information and children’s case records.

They found the quality of the service on the whole was at the same level as the last full inspection in October last year, when the department was deemed good.

Since then, some improvements have been made, including more regular assessments and closer monitoring, as well as the introduction of a family group conference service.

But it was also found workloads were increasing and newly qualified social workers were being asked to take on tasks beyond their experience.

Lead inspector Paula Thomson-Jones said: “Some children benefit from the good-quality work by individual practitioners, but for many children, particularly those suffering neglect, the service remains too variable, and some children live in neglectful situations for too long, where they suffer harm.

“The ability of the service to improve the quality of practice considered in this visit has been impacted on by a lack of progress in some key areas. Despite the recommendation from the last inspection, the partnership has been far too slow to develop its response to neglect, with an action plan that has not yet been implemented.

“The workforce remains under huge pressure. The caseloads of social workers and their managers have increased and remain too high. This has impeded progress in improving the quality of assessments and care plans.

"Caseloads for all staff seen during the visit remain too high. Children do not see heir social workers as often as they should. Workers fulfil their statutory duties but are not able to build trusting working relationships with all children that would

make a real difference to their outcomes.

"Newly qualified and inexperienced social workers have too much work. This often includes more complex child protection

work which is beyond their level of knowledge and experience."

Council children's services director Jayne Ivory said: “This is a largely positive report and we are really pleased that many of the improvements put in place following the previous ‘Good’ Ofsted in 2017 have been implemented and are making a difference to children and families in the borough.

“It was good to have the development of a family group conference service recognised as a real strength that has had a positive impact on outcomes for children and their families.

“This visit by Ofsted has also highlighted areas where we know we need to improve and it is reassuring to us that we know ourselves well and that that there were no surprises in Ofsted’s findings.”

“No service is 100 per cent perfect and there are areas where we know we need to improve and we, alongside our partners are working hard to deliver effective services to children, young people and their families in Blackburn with Darwen.

"We have plans in place to support some of the areas identified as needing to be improved so that we fulfil our ambition to be Good across every part of our service and have dedicated teams who do their best every day for every single child.”

Cllr Maureen Bateson, executive member for children, young people and education, said: “I would like to thank all of our staff for their continuing efforts as they keep on top of the growing demand and work with increasingly complex cases to their best for our children and families.

"We will continue to call on Government for fair funding for these vital services. We are facing increasing demands and pressures and reduced government funding, as many local authorities are, in very complex areas.

"This makes the work our staff does even more admirable as they are working within a very difficult situation in terms of finances and staffing levels.”