One in seven councils in England is failing vulnerable children with "inadequate" child protection services, according to a damning report. There are 20 local authorities where Ofsted says standards are "unacceptably poor" and the most basic safeguards against abuse or neglect are not in place.
In its first annual report into social care, the watchdog said that child protection services are too often "manifestly and palpably weak". Just four in 10 local authorities were rated as "good" or "outstanding" and more than half were deemed to be "less than good". The study was based on more than 4,500 inspections of children’s care services in England’s 152 local authorities.
The picture was better for adoption and fostering services, which the regulator found had "generally improved over recent years". More than three quarters of local authorities are now rated as "good" or "outstanding" for their adoption and fostering services.
A climate of increasing workloads and sharply decreasing budgets is making it harder than ever for councils to improve the situation, the regulator said. The growth in the number of looked after children alone represents an estimated additional £173 million pounds a year in added costs to the system. Yet local authority budgets have been slashed by more than a quarter in the five years from 2010.
The report suggested that the watchdog would be pushing the Government to introduce tougher standards for councils. It said: "We are not satisfied that the standards [set by Government] are ambitious enough for children."
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/social-care-crisis-damning-ofsted-report-says-20-local-authorities-cannot-keep-children-safe-8882208.html
Just like the NHS, social care is being run down in order to justify the privatisation of services.
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