Ministers set to draft in commissioner to oversee children's services in crisis-hit Northamptonshire council

Inspectors found children are ‘not effectively assessed, supported or protected’ when referred to council’s services in highly critical report

Conservative-led council has been hit by financial crises in 2018 (Getty)

Ministers are set to draft in a commissioner to oversee children’s services in the crisis-hit Northamptonshire county council following a damning report from Ofsted inspectors highlighting alarming shortcomings.

Unveiling the plan on Tuesday evening, the government said it was taking the action after the highly critical survey found children are “not effectively assessed, supported or protected” when referred to the council’s services.

The Conservative-led administration is currently being run by government-appointed commissioners following the imposition of emergency spending controls after projecting a budget shortfall of up to £70m earlier this year.

In their letter, Ofsted inspectors stated: “Against a backdrop of recent significant uncertainty and changes in leadership at corporate and managerial levels, services considered during this visit have significantly declined in the past two years since the single inspection in 2016.

“This uncertainty has contributed to significant shortfalls in social work capacity across the service, resulting in unmanageable caseloads and high volumes of unallocated work and unassessed work.”

In a ministerial statement to the Commons responding to the report, housing, communities and local government secretary James Brokenshire confirmed the government intends to send in an extra commissioner.

“There are particular concerns about the relatively high number of unallocated and unassessed cases, and a social care workforce that is highly dependent on agency staff,” Mr Brokenshire said.

He added that following a recommendation from the commissioners currently stationed in Northamptonshire, “I agree that we should act swiftly to strengthen the focus on children in the current intervention, by appointing an additional commissioner” to the existing team.

He continued: “Keeping vulnerable children safe is one of the most important duties local authorities carry out and any deterioration in the performance of Northamptonshire children’s services cannot continue.”

Damian Hinds, the education secretary, added: “Appointing a commissioner for Northamptonshire children’s services will help stabilise and improve the support for children and families who need our protection.”

But Mr Brokeshire’s opposite number, Labour‘s Andrew Gwynne, said it was a “national scandal” that “vulnerable children in Northamptonshire are paying the price for Tory austerity”.

He continued: “The government has acknowledged the crisis facing our children’s services and the pressures this places on budgets, but has failed to end austerity for our local authorities and give them the resources they need.”

The ministers added that Northamptonshire county council will now have the opportunity to make any representations to the government on the appointment of an extra commissioner before a final decision is made later in November.