Birmingham Local Conservatives have repeatedly called for services for children with additional needs to be placed in a trust following years of continuous and systemic failure under Birmingham City Council. National Government was forced to intervene last year following a damning Ofsted inspection which found no improvements had been made in the 30 months since a number of significant concerns had been found, including failed leadership.
The government-appointed commissioner has raised doubts as to whether the Labour-run Birmingham City Council should continue to run these services. If this were the case, these services could be placed in Birmingham Children’s Trust. The Trust was created when similar failings were found in the running of children’s social care, and Local Conservatives argued at the time that it should take on responsibility for SEND services too, such were the issues apparent at the time.
The Commissioner stated in May that any support for the continuation of the Council’s provision of SEND services was contingent on its acceptance & implementation – without reservation – of all the Commissioner’s suggestions. 6 months later the Council are only just now bringing forward a Cabinet report to formally accept those recommendations and present an improvement plan that is already 3 months old, something many feel displays a lack of urgency and seriousness by the council on this issue.
Cllr Simon Morrall (Con, Frankley) Shadow Cabinet Member for Children and Families said:
“The first report of the Commissioner confirmed that Children with additional needs are being badly let down by this Council. As an Opposition we have consistently tried to give a voice to those children and parents, to shine a spotlight on those failings and demand better for some of our City’s most vulnerable. This cycle of failure is in stark contrast to what has happened with children’s social care services, which were taken out of the Council’s control due to their inability to improve. There we have seen sustained improvement since the creation of the Trust, despite objections to the idea from Birmingham Labour prior to government intervention. This is why we are calling on the Council to adopt the recommendation that all of Children’s Services now move into a trust, so that children and parents receive the stability and improvements they have been desperately calling for. We cannot afford to waste any more time when so many chances for improvement have already been squandered, for those children in Birmingham right now whose needs aren’t being met the consequences will be lifelong.”
While Birmingham City Council was failing to deliver SEND services, a similar lack of basic leadership was seen in the state of its Home to School Transport service for those same children. It has been revealed that the Council’s transport service has left young people waiting for hours or failed to turn up at all, as well as being dropped at the wrong school, or found travelling in unsafe vehicles. More shockingly, it was revealed that basic checks had been missed and this had led to criminals and sex offenders being hired as drivers on the home-to-school transport scheme. Meanwhile, the service continues to overspend despite millions more being poured into it.
Cllr Alex Yip (Con, Sutton Wylde Green) said
“The horror stories about the home-to-school transport service are enough to keep any parent up all night with worry. They trust the council to keep their children safe and this responsibility has not been taken anywhere near seriously enough by a council that continues to evade questions on the subject as we search for the truth. Whilst some improvements have been made since the peak of problems in September last year, this is only at a huge and unsustainable expense. The service is projecting a £16m overspend this year, despite already receiving an additional investment of £16.8m, but millions of pounds of this have gone to expensive consultants to produce a shiny report after shiny report telling them what parents have been telling them for years. Clearly, the answer is to replicate the success of the Children’s Trust and avoid these services being damaged any further by the incompetence of Birmingham City Council. Measuring improvements in years isn’t good enough for families being failed daily.”
Additional News
- Fears sex offender hired to transport kids in Birmingham after criminal checks failure - Birmingham Live (birminghammail.co.uk)
- 'Damaging cocktail' of failings over Birmingham's children and the ultimatum that must be accepted - Birmingham Live (birminghammail.co.uk)
- Government officially takes over Birmingham's failing service for kids with special needs - Birmingham Live (birminghammail.co.uk)
- Angry scenes as school kids criminal checks scandal details blocked by Birmingham council - Birmingham Live (birminghammail.co.uk)
- Timeline of chaos - Birmingham's home-to-school transport scandals as big change coming - Birmingham Live (birminghammail.co.uk)
