Adult and Children’s inspection Reports across Greater Manchester

	Adult Social Care		Children’s Services
Bolton	Good	Feb26	Good	Sep23
Bury	Good	Jun26	Requires Improvement	Jun25
Manchester	Good	Aug26	Outstanding	Oct25
Oldham	Good	Feb26	Good	May24
Rochdale	Good	Jun26	Requires Improvement	Feb23
Salford	Inadequate	May26	Good	Nov23
Stockport	Good	May26	Requires Improvement	May25
Tameside	Requires Improvement	Jun26	Inadequate	Dec23
Trafford	Requires Improvement	Aug26	Inadequate	Jun26
Wigan	Outstanding	Mar26	Good	Oct25

Trafford has found itself in the unenviable position of receiving two critical inspection reports in quick succession. There’s been a political furore and urgent meetings in the middle of August have had to be scheduled.

Adult Social Services

Because all of Greater Manchester’s Adult Services have been inspected in quick succession, I think it’s useful to compare these across Greater Manchester.

Most of our neighbours have been rated as ‘Good’.

Wigan are rated as ‘Outstanding’.

Salford have been given an ‘Inadequate’ mark.

That leaves Tameside and Trafford as ‘Requiring Improvement’.

Children’s Services

The inspections into Children’s Services have been taking place over a much longer period going back to 2023. Trafford is the only Greater Manchester Council that’s had an inspection this year. Trafford’s Children’s Services have been rated as inadequate.

The opening paragraph of the inspection report is corruscating.

Since the previous inspection in 2022, when services in Trafford were judged as requires improvement to be good, leaders have been ineffective in recognising, prioritising and making improvements to some service shortfalls.

Practice with children in care and for some care-experienced young people has improved, but there has been a serious deterioration in service areas, such as front door response. This has left some children at risk of harm.

This is serious. Yes, there’s some positive comments in sections of the report, but those opening paragraphs are damning.

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But surely Tameside is in the same place as Trafford?

It’s true that Tameside has received the same combination, but the three year time lapse has made it noticeably less febrile there. Maybe, that’s somewhat unfair, but we can’t make Tameside react differently.

So, where does that leave us?

Trafford have issued a public response to the Ofsted report.

Work is already under way to strengthen children’s services.

… improving decision-making and management oversight at the Front Door, where contacts and referrals are first received and assessed…

…focusing on specific areas identified in the inspection, the response to children at risk of significant harm, safety planning, support for 16 and 17 year old homeless children, young carers…

Democratic oversight will be provided by the Children’s Scrutiny Committee.

I welcome the involvement of Scrutiny. Shirley Procter as chair of Children’s scrutiny has a wealth of experience of children’s services. There is no one better to run with this.

However, I can’t help reflecting on the council’s suspension of all scrutiny for a big part of last year. I hope the leadership will reflect on their tendency to close down oversight whenever there’s opportunity. I suspect scrutiny would have brought some of these issues to the fore ahead of Ofsted.

The speed with which questioning of the Executive was suppressed during the Mayoral election suggests the openness promised in the response may not be observed in practice. This is not a council executive characterised by its inclusive governance.

The Extraordinary Council Meetings

The Council Meeting will take place on the 26th August, the meeting of Children’s scrutiny precedes it on the 25th. Of the two, the scrutiny is likely to be by far the more constructive. It really depends how open the Executive is to its shortcomings, and to the extent to which it is receptive to advice.

The Conservatives have already made it clear that they are pursuing the resignation of the Labour Leader, Tom Ross, at the Council Meeting.

Is there a case for resignations?

The objective argument is whether the resignation of the leader allows a more proactive examination of how to deliver these services to the required standard.

I don’t think one ought to be sentimental about this. I’ve seen leaders hang on when circumstances conspire. It’s the party that loses as a consequence.

A shift to inclusivity might well entail some changes to personnel. However, I don’t think it will happen. In fact, the Tory approach makes even less likely to happen. The council will divide on party lines and the leadership will receive a vote of confidence.

That potential vote of confidence is troubling. You can’t draw a simple line under a verdict that ‘there has been a serious deterioration in service areas, such as front door response. This has left some children at risk of harm.’

I would prefer the Conservatives to avoid a vote on resignations. They are entitled to make capital. It ought to be an opportunity for constructive input.

Can we be assured that the risk of harm will be mitigated?

The inspection has provoked a response across social media from carers and young people that have interacted with children’s services. I wouldn’t call it an explosion, but there’s certainly been some.

We really need the voices of people who’ve been engaged with Children’s Services to be heard. They won’t be served by a political bun fight and obfuscation.

We really need to be shining a light on how things are put right. The risk is that the opposite will happen and the matter is locked down.