Local authority monitoring activity letter: Wrexham County Borough Council

CIW undertook monitoring of Wrexham CBC children’s social services to follow up on the findings of our inspection in October 2020 in which we judged services to remain inadequate with early indicators of improvement. That means services were consistently failing to meet statutory duties but children were not found to be unsupported and at immediate risk of harm or abuse.

From the evidence gained during this monitoring visit, it is our judgement that Wrexham CBC children’s social services is continuing to make improvements required.

Findings

• We saw evidence of improved management oversight, expectations and reminders initiated between colleagues encouraging one another to complete work to a high standard within appropriate timescales for the benefit of children.
• We found case notes easy to follow and the purpose of local authority involvement in the life of the child easy to identify.
• Practitioners made us aware of the traffic light system introduced to identify children at risk and ensure twice-weekly management oversight and monitoring of the quality of support offered.
• We heard practitioners were able to improve recording in case files and sharing of information between teams, helping them to be better informed.
• We identified the local authority must act rapidly to improve how it facilities meetings to safeguard vulnerable children and provide social workers with the tools necessary to undertake their professional duties. This includes having access to widely available information technology to engage efficiently and effectively with children and other professionals within statutory timescales.
• We found evidence that new senior managers understand the importance of networks and collaborative working to improve outcomes for children with increased expectation of success.
• We heard from external partner agencies how new positive relationships are being forged and beginning to deliver new opportunities for service development.

Next steps

We indent to follow up with a further monitoring visit in the next six to eight months and to undertake a full inspection in 12 months.

To view all our findings and recommendations read the full letter below.