Ofsted has confirmed that a children's social care service which was last rated inadequate continues to make steady progress in improving its provision, following a recent monitoring visit.

Blackpool’s Children’s Social Care service was visited in January for a review of the “front door” of the service, where all new referrals for help and support to strengthen families and safeguard the welfare of children in Blackpool are received.

The focussed visit looked at the way social care professionals, police, health, education and other key agencies work together to respond to concerns and requests for support so that work with families is prompt and effective in addressing worries and risk.

This was the fourth monitoring visit since the local authority service was judged inadequate in January 2019, but subsequently an independent review later declared that children’s social care should remain under council control but with further improvements and monitoring required.

In the most recent published letter (February 15) from Lorna Schlechte, Her Majesty’s Inspector (Ofsted) to Victoria Gent, Blackpool’s Director of Children’s Services, it was noted that: “There is an effective and well-co-ordinated multi-agency response to vulnerable families, despite continued high levels of demand.

“Risk of harm is recognised and responded to in a timely way in the ‘request for support hub’, where there is a strong and collaborative partnership presence and robust management oversight.”

Inspectors found that children who are new referrals and in need of help and protection are identified promptly in the hub, their needs and vulnerabilities are recognised, and they receive appropriate support.

They also found that social Care professionals, the police, health, education and other key agencies work together to respond to concerns and requests for support and draw together information so that work with families is prompt and effective in addressing worries and risk gathering processes.

It was noted that auditing activity had continued at pace and performance is regularly reported and disseminated to management about strengths and areas for improvement, while senior leaders are appropriately sighted on workforce priorities, including the need to build more experience and stability across the service.

Caseloads have recently reduced and staff report that there is a supportive organisational culture.

Leader of Blackpool Council, Cllr Lynn Williams, said: “We welcome the recognition by Ofsted of the positive steps that we have undertaken to improve our children’s social care service.

“As the latest official feedback states Blackpool continues to make steady progress with improvements and has implemented visible and meaningful changes to deliver a better and more effective service but there are still some areas of learning that will help to shape our continued improvement plans.

“It goes without saying that our priority has, and will always be, the wellbeing of our children and ensuring that they can enjoy the best and happiest life chances.”

Blackpool Council cabinet member for children’s social care and schools, Cllr Jim Hobson, said: “There continues to be very significant challenges for Blackpool, not least the very high level of poverty and deprivation in the town but with all the building blocks that have been put in place we are in a better position to meet the complex challenges of social work in the town now and in the future.

“We acknowledge that there is still more to do to develop a more effective integrated early help and preventative response from ourselves, partner agencies and stakeholders to ensure that children receive the right help at the right time but we are moving forward in a constructive direction and we will continue to respond and act on the feedback that we receive.”

Blackpool Council’s director of children’s services, Victoria Gent, said: “I am extremely proud of the progress that we have made.

"Much has been achieved over the last three years in terms of introducing new ideas and ways of working so that better help is delivered to those that are vulnerable and in need of support.

“The inspectors could see that our newly launched Early Help strategy was designed to further strengthen partnerships and they anticipate this having further positive impact in the future.

“It is also rewarding to know that is has been noted in the letter that I received that we have been able to achieve a strong face to face presence in the most challenging of circumstances with those in need of support throughout the various lockdowns and that partnerships have been maintained effectively.

“Although the latest feedback from Ofsted indicates that there is some more work required to embed existing or new practices across our partnership network it also acknowledges our focus on developing a supportive culture for our staff so that caseloads are reducing giving them more time to work with children and families.

“We are delighted that the inspectors saw improvement in one of our most pressing and important challenges and an area of national concern, that of the recruitment, retention and professional development of social workers.

"They saw evidence of much greater stability in the workforce, increased staff morale and a real focus from leaders on supporting and nurturing our people.

“I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and recognise the dedication and significant contributions made by the children’s services team, the corporate workforce, and our partners in helping us move forward so positively.”