A Labour councillor has called for ‘renewed urgency and vigour’ from West Sussex County Council to address issues with its children’s services.
Ofsted recently praised the significant improvements in the services, which have come on in leaps and bounds since being rated ‘inadequate’ in 2019.
Alison Cornell, who represents Langley Green & Ifield East, said she was pleased to see the recognition of the ‘enormous amount of work’ put into turning things around.
But she shared her concerns about a number of issues highlighted by Ofsted which need more work.
Mrs Cornell said:
“Moving forward, real concerns remain around aspects of safeguarding, transition to adult life and consistency of good practice, to highlight three areas.
“These must now be addressed with renewed urgency and vigour so we can all have confidence that in future no child will be left behind or failed by the services we provide.”
One of the areas listed for further improvement was the response to 16/17-year-olds who presented as homeless.
A report from His Majesty’s Inspector Maire Atherton said:
“When children present as homeless, many benefit from a joint housing assessment and are appropriately supported to return to their family home.
“For some children, their vulnerability and circumstances are not well understood.
“Children are not routinely or clearly provided with information to inform them of their rights and entitlements.
“This means that some children miss out on the benefits of having care-leaver status and support as they move into adulthood.”
A county council spokesman said:
“We know we have more work to do so all our children and young people receive a good level of service.
“Ofsted have recognised our commitment to make further improvements and these areas are being addressed as part of our new continuous improvement plan and the West Sussex County Council priority to keep people safe from vulnerable situations.”
Mrs Cornell said:
“In reality, while we should celebrate the excellent service now provided to the majority, too many West Sussex children continue to be failed.
“We are now well over four years in – there were clear warnings in Ofsted reports before 2019 – so we must acknowledge that some children have been lost in this time."
Stressing the need for more scrutiny of the improvement work being carried out, she added:
“This is a journey, and while West Sussex has made incredible progress I think we all know it is far from over.”
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