Waste,waste and more waste...
Solihull Cllr Sir Peter Hogarth MBE, awarded for services to the community, an elected official.
A year ago, in July 2023, Solihull Council was replacing the disgraced Chief Executive Nick Page with his second in command, hitherto, his assistant, the Deputy Chief Executive, Paul Johnson. The level and tone of criticism from Ofsted,HM Governments investigator, Sir Alan Wood and a cross party committee of MP's, of the Council leadership and the departed Chief Executive, was unprecedented.
Simultaneously, Solihull Council was spending significant amounts of Council taxpayers' money in hiring temporary staff and transporting them in large numbers in a desperate, emergency effort to revive its failing Children's Social Services.
The Solihull Service, which had been in steady decline for years, had gone unchecked, unscrutinised and unnoticed. Unnoticed that was until tragedy struck.
On the other hand, in the same month and year, North Yorkshire’s Children Services were undergoing its Ofsted Inspection. This inspection, identical to those that had consistently condemned Solihull, did not put anyone in mind to take any action, not one jot, from council officers or elected officials.
Simultaneously, Solihull Council was spending significant amounts of Council taxpayers' money in hiring temporary staff and transporting them in large numbers in a desperate, emergency effort to revive its failing Children's Social Services.
The Solihull Service, which had been in steady decline for years, had gone unchecked, unscrutinised and unnoticed. Unnoticed that was until tragedy struck.
On the other hand, in the same month and year, North Yorkshire’s Children Services were undergoing its Ofsted Inspection. This inspection, identical to those that had consistently condemned Solihull, did not put anyone in mind to take any action, not one jot, from council officers or elected officials.
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Chilling Findings found in Solihull by Sir Sir Alan Wood C.B.E. in March 2023 he reported - link to full report
In this review, I held 93 meetings. In my discussion with individuals and groups, Solihull was often referred to by commentators and officials as an “affluent” or “small” borough. I was told that there are two Solihulls. The deprived North and the wealthy South. Some said that the Council was not committed to children’s services, seeing them as uncooperative or having been placed on the naughty step for overspending or providing poor services. These differing views were firmly held. It is possible to conclude, fairly, that children have not been one of their core priorities despite words to the contrary.” |
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Conversely, in North Yorkshire
How did North Yorkshire fare in its inspection – show, don't tell is the adage, here it is - “Leaders have built on their well-established culture and service initiatives to further develop and improve services for children since the outstanding judgement at the last inspection in 2018. The new judgement area for care leavers is also judged outstanding.” Outstanding! To achieve that, North Yorkshire has not employed a single agency worker for six years. Yes (six 6 )years! 
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Instead of that, in Solihull
Solihull's leaders stuff Social Services to the brim with temporary staff, looking for a quick fix to a problem that—never mind that they didn't see coming—no one even noticed until it swept over them. Even then, it still took outside authorities to get Solihull Council to do anything about it.
Where was the forethought, and where was the investment in best practice, people, and training?
Well, the money to pay for it disappeared down the drain in agency commission fees. The forethought was lost in a shortsighted, quick fix; I'm alright, Jack, self-serving management culture demonstrated across Solihull Social Service Directorates, whose catchphrase is ‘due to annual holidays’…
Solihull Social Services is essentially nothing of the sort. It is an unchallenged commissioning group, a set, a clique, of introspective individuals.
Solihull's leaders stuff Social Services to the brim with temporary staff, looking for a quick fix to a problem that—never mind that they didn't see coming—no one even noticed until it swept over them. Even then, it still took outside authorities to get Solihull Council to do anything about it.
Where was the forethought, and where was the investment in best practice, people, and training?
Well, the money to pay for it disappeared down the drain in agency commission fees. The forethought was lost in a shortsighted, quick fix; I'm alright, Jack, self-serving management culture demonstrated across Solihull Social Service Directorates, whose catchphrase is ‘due to annual holidays’…
Solihull Social Services is essentially nothing of the sort. It is an unchallenged commissioning group, a set, a clique, of introspective individuals.
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“The Council has had to invest substantial resources in children’s services to try to drive improvement. A significant number of staff have been employed over budgeted provision. This has resulted in large numbers of agency staff with high levels of turnover. It has not provided the stability required or the improvement needed. This lack of stability in the workforce is a key contributor to the failures of service.”
Sir Alan Wood C.B.E. |
By way of observation, of course, to invest in its literal sense is to ‘the purchase of goods that are not consumed today but are used in the future to generate wealth’.
Placed in this Social Work Sense context, the ‘purchase’ is agency work, paid for by the hour along with the agency fees (down the drain), therefore consumed immediately provided by temporary workers, which by its definition negates any prospect of future use to train and cultivate ‘in-house’ trained loyal staff in the future.
Placed in this Social Work Sense context, the ‘purchase’ is agency work, paid for by the hour along with the agency fees (down the drain), therefore consumed immediately provided by temporary workers, which by its definition negates any prospect of future use to train and cultivate ‘in-house’ trained loyal staff in the future.
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Agency workers are placed across the teams in children's social care; however, they are almost the full establishment in some of the critical child protection teams for example I was told 21 of the 25 staff in the Child Assessment Team were agency staff. Sir Alan Wood C.B.E.
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North Yorkshire Social Services' outstanding performance could and should be used to create a model for a National Care Service - Conversely Solihull is Case in Point of how not to run Social Services.
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