Child safety services criticised

The safeguarding of vulnerable children in Reading has been rated as "inadequate" in a report by Ofsted.

Criticisms included assessments not being completed on time, over-burdened social workers and inadequate filing of personal data.

The Joint Area Review (JAR) comes after Ofsted published annual assessments of 147 councils, also rating Reading's children's services as inadequate.

The Berkshire council said it was committed to improving services.

The JAR review and Ofsted's APA report in December both acknowledged that Reading Borough Council has been working to remedy the weaknesses.

There have been serious issues in the operation of the council's safeguarding function, and there wasn't any quick fix. Pete Ruhemann, lead councillor for children's services

But the review said improvements needed to be "sustained over a longer period of time to ensure that the changes are embedded in the culture of the department".

The borough council said it took the inspectors' findings "very seriously" and was appointing additional social care staff to reduce the workload in the child protection teams.

Pete Ruhemann, lead councillor for children's services, said: "There have been serious issues in the operation of the council's safeguarding function, and there wasn't any quick fix.

"An immense amount of work has been put into rebuilding this service, which is now showing performance levels comparable to, and in some cases better than, our statistical neighbours.

"There is never any room for complacency about child protection, but I do believe what has been put in place means that our children are safer than before, and that there is a much more solid basis for the future.

"However, the situation must be closely monitored to ensure the improvements are sustained."

The inspections were carried out in September last year.

Provision for looked-after children and for those with learning difficulties and disabilities were found to be adequate while the strategy for reducing teenage pregnancies was also judged inadequate.