COUNCIL leaders have kept a "clear focus on keeping children safe and improving the quality of social work practice in Oldham" despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, a report states.

Education regulator Ofsted carried out a focused inspection of the local authority's children's services on November 30 and December 1

Among the problems faced during the health crisis, the watchdog said there has been "increased pressure across the system over the last year, associated with a rise in referrals for domestic abuse, neglect and mental health concerns".

But the the "impact of Covid-19 in some of the most diverse and deprived communities continues to be well understood".

As a result "this has ensured that appropriately targeted partnership support, built up at the start of the pandemic, has been sustained and is directed to the most vulnerable families".

The report said: "Children in Oldham are seen regularly by social workers who know them well.

"This has continued despite the various lockdown restrictions and an increase in children subject to child in need and child protection plans.

"Assessments are completed in a timely way and most are comprehensive in capturing children’s lived experiences.

"Social workers consider historical risk factors appropriately and gain information from partner agencies to build up a picture of children’s lives.

"However, the impact of neglect on children is not always as clearly considered."

Despite the praise given to the department there are weaknesses Ofsted identified.

"When children are at risk of harm, risk is recognised and there is a timely response, although children’s plans are of variable quality", the report states.

"The stronger plans are detailed and clear about what needs to change in order for risk to be reduced and for children’s needs to be met in a timely way.

"However, some plans do not reflect current circumstances clearly or capture the voice of the child sufficiently in relation to their lived experience.

"Plans can sometimes be too vague about who does what, and by when, against specific actions.

"Direct work with children is sometimes completed well and informs future planning, but this is not consistently the case.

"There continues to be significant financial investment in the children’s social care workforce to increase capacity in response to increased demand experienced throughout the pandemic.

"However, senior leaders are appropriately sighted on, and transparent about, the need to reduce caseloads further and recruit more permanent staff, to ensure that the roll-out of a new systemic model can be fully implemented across the workforce."

Overall though, the regulator is pleased with how the service is performing

Summing up the findings, the report added: "Since the last focused assurance visit in October 2020, senior leaders have maintained a clear focus on keeping children safe and improving the quality of social work practice in Oldham.

"Children benefit from an effective range of support and services, despite the continued disruption caused by high rates of Covid-19 across the borough.

"Social work is often purposeful and makes a difference to vulnerable children’s lives. Senior leaders are ambitious and know themselves well.

"They understand that further work is required to ensure a more consistent approach to the quality of practice across the service."

Ofsted has told the council to improve the "consistent quality of plans so that they are up to date and contain contingencies if progress is not made".

The council has also been told to improve "the impact of quality assurance activity on social work practice" and the "frequency of formal supervision so that management oversight has the appropriate impact on improving the consistency of practice".