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Child protection bosses warned Manchester must not become 'another Rotherham' after damning report by Ofsted

Councillors 'devastated, shocked and ashamed' as government say they could take over 'inadequate' service if urgent improvements are not made

Furious councillors have warned childcare bosses in Manchester that the city ‘must not become another Rotherham’.

The development came as ministers dramatically stepped in after Manchester council’s child protection department was labelled ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted.

The inspectors had said children could potentially be at risk.

The government has now served an improvement notice on the department.

Children’s minister Edward Timpson has written to the council demanding urgent action. If that doesn’t happen, the government has powers to take over the service.

Worried councillors said they were ‘devastated’, ‘shocked’ and ‘ashamed’ by the inspectorate’s findings and have warned bosses they do not want any more ‘nasty surprises’.

Coun Julie Reid, chair of the children’s committee, told senior officers this morning that there must be no Rotherham-style ‘cover-up’ of the unit’s problems, adding: “If we don’t address it, the Department for Education will come in and say it’s over.”

Ofsted’s highly-critical report found a backlog of nearly 500 cases waiting to be assessed by social workers - and gave the department the lowest possible rating.
Members of the children’s scrutiny committee raised fears of another Rotherham-style scandal waiting to happen.

Coun Sameem Ali asked officers: “Are there going to be any more nasty surprises? Are we are going to see any more reports coming out like Rochdale and Rotherham? There can’t be any more surprises.”

In response, children’s services director Mike Livingstone revealed an independent review had been launched to see what lessons could be learned from Rotherham.

But he also outlined a raft of steps already being taken - including hiring more social workers and managers and setting up an independent ‘improvement board’.

But some councillors expressed dismay that officers had been ‘dishonest’ in their previous explanation of the service’s performance.

Coun Reid said the crisis must be tackled by everyone within the council and not just her committee.

She said: As we know, in Rotherham it was the chief executive that took the rap for it."

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/child-protection-bosses-warned-manchester-7779450