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| Children 'not protected' by Stoke-on-Trent City Council | Children 'not protected' by Stoke-on-Trent City Council |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Vulnerable children are "not being protected" by a city council, according to a damning report. | Vulnerable children are "not being protected" by a city council, according to a damning report. |
| Ofsted has rated children's services at Stoke-on-Trent City Council "inadequate", and said there had been a "corporate failure" to address serious and widespread problems. | |
| The report said the council had "seriously declined" since the last inspection in 2015. | The report said the council had "seriously declined" since the last inspection in 2015. |
| The authority said it was taking immediate action to make improvements. | The authority said it was taking immediate action to make improvements. |
| The report said too many children came into care in a crisis or waited too long to be reunited with their families. | |
| It also said there were insufficient fostering placements and many children were put in unregulated placements. | |
| Inspectors said social workers' caseloads were too high, averaging more than 25 children, which compromised their ability to carry out their responsibilities. | |
| The report, from a visit in February, said children were experiencing serious and widespread delays and leaders had "not sufficiently understood the extent and impact of the failures and have been ineffective in prioritising, challenging and making improvements". | |
| It also said recording was very poor, with key documents missing on some children's electronic files. | |
| The report highlights 15 key areas that need to improve, including the "urgency and robustness" of child protection response, staffing capacity, the consideration of children's experiences and support for care leavers. | |
| Stoke-on-Trent City Council said the inspection regime used by Ofsted in this visit was different than in previous inspections, focussing on frontline work and observing working practices. | |
| Council leader Ann James said the authority was taking the ruling "extremely seriously" and was "very concerned by the findings". | |
| "I'd like to reassure families that we have listened closely to all the comments from inspectors, have identified areas where improvements need to be made, and welcome the support of Ofsted and other partners in helping us to address these issues as quickly as possible," she said. | |
| "We are absolutely committed to supporting children in our city and improving our services - we will quickly move to a much improved position." | |
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