Child safeguarding services in Cheshire East have ‘serious and fundamental weaknesses’ which leave children at risk of exploitation, according to a new Ofsted report.
Inspections of the multi-agency Cheshire East Safeguarding Children’s Partnership concluded that the partnership did not understand the extent of its failure to protect children who were at risk of criminal and sexual exploitation.
Ofsted said the partnership, which is made up of Cheshire East Council, Cheshire Police, Police and Crime Commissioner, and local NHS services, lacked ‘insufficient senior leadership analysis’ of the experiences of vulnerable children.
Multi-agency action plans were also ‘ineffective’ and evaluation of the impact of frontline work was not based on ‘a systematic analysis across services’ but was rather too focused on process.
A joint statement from the Safeguarding Children’s Partnership said: ‘We fully accept all the inspectors’ recommendations and are truly sorry that there were gaps in our work to protect these children and young people. Criminal exploitation has a devastating impact on children, young people, their families, and local communities and our job is to support the whole family to help to keep them safe.
‘Following the inspection, we acted immediately and are working hard to make sure that this vulnerable group of children are supported and protected. Improvements have already been implemented and we are working together to build on our strengths and address all the areas for improvement as a matter of urgency.'
