"Widespread and serious failures" at Surrey County Council (SCC) are leaving children at risk of harm, according to a damning new report by the education watchdog.

It is a bitter blow for an authority hit hard in 2008, when its childrens' services were found by Ofsted to have failed 4,000 vulnerable children.

December 2008: Ofsted: Surrey County Council "inadequate" at keeping children safe

This time Ofsted inspected SCC’s services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after, and care leavers in October and November.

In the report published yesterday, it rated these services as "inadequate".

It said: "There are widespread and serious failures that potentially leave children at risk of harm.

"Leaders and managers have not been able to demonstrate sufficient understanding of failures and have been ineffective in prioritising, challenging and making improvements."

And: "During this inspection, a number of cases were identified where there were serious concerns about management oversight, decision-making, assessment and interventions with children and young people.

"In some instances, robust action has not been taken to protect children and decision-making did not sufficiently take into account the history of the case."

Responding to the report, SCC's deputy leader Peter Martin said in a statement: "Ofsted inspected in October and we were aware there was more we had to do to support young people in need of our help and it is something we have already addressed with an extra £2m investment to recruit more social workers.

"The report says we are looking after children in immediate danger – it was our work to protect other young people with very difficult lives that needed to improve and is now being addressed."



AUDIO: Deputy leader Peter Martin said the council was aware before the inspection it was failing

SCC councillor Hazel Watson, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: "This report is a shocking wake-up call for the Conservative administration at County Hall.

"Protecting vulnerable children from harm should be the top priority for the county council.

"Sadly the leadership and management in Surrey have been severely lacking, which has put such vulnerable children at risk of harm."

Coun Watson said SCC had started work to implement Ofsted’s recommendations, which included improved training for social workers, better assessment and planning for looked after children, and more support for care leavers.

She said she was pressing the council to do much more to recruit and retain social workers in Surrey to ensure there were enough experienced social workers to provide the best service.

Coun Watson added: "Surrey’s Conservative administration has to make significant improvements in children’s services as it has brushed the problems under the carpet for far too long.

"I hope that following the recent change in the cabinet member responsible for children’s services in Surrey that this new leadership will result in rapid improvement."

Richard Wilson, who stood as the Labour parliamentary candidate for Guildford in the General Election, said the report provided a wake-up call for a "complacent council".

"When councils sweep the risks to vulnerable children under the carpet the consequences can be devastating," he said.

"I am calling on the leader of the council to treat this as an emergency.

“The damning conclusions of the Ofsted investigation show that the council’s complacency has gone too far. 

"SCC is failing to protect the weakest members of society and that failure will cause untold damage to young lives.”

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