Social services given zero rating

The council says improvements have been made this year

Inspectors have given Cumbria's social services a zero rating for the second year in a row.

In a report by the Commission for Social Care Inspection giving ratings for the country's 150 councils, Cumbria is one of eight given zero stars.

The council says the inspection was carried out only shortly after an action plan for improvement had begun.

It says that means the rating does not reflect improvements which have been made since then.

This is the first year the Commission for Social Care Inspection has published ratings. Last year, the zero rating came from the Social Services Inspectorate.

The report said the department was serving some adults well but the capacity to improve adults' services was uncertain.

There is clearly much more work to do, but I know we have made significant progress since the inspection ended in March John Mallinson, Cumbria County Council

It said it was not serving children well and the capacity to improve children's services was uncertain, which was an improvement.

Cumbria County Council cabinet spokesman for care and social services, John Mallinson, said: "The inspectors have given then county council credit for a wide range of improvements.

"There is clearly much more work to do, but I know we have made significant progress since the inspection ended in March.

"That has been achieved by the hard work of all our staff under the leadership of the interim director for social services Stephen Wilds."

The council said last year's zero rating led to a range of improvement measures being agreed and it had received a letter from ministers saying they were encouraged by progress.

Mr Mallinson said: "We were well aware this inspection would lead to another nil star rating because of the timing.

"We also know that given the issues we had to address there was no quick fix.

"However the detailed report clearly identifies improvements even in the early part of this year. A further six months has passed during which that work has continued."