A TORY councillor has claimed Bradford Council’s problems looking after vulnerable children, which were last week criticised by an Ofsted report, were largely avoidable.

Councillor Jackie Whiteley, who was the Conservative Group spokesperson for Children’s Social Care, said: “One of the reasons that the Council has been found ill equipped to meet the un-presented needs of vulnerable children is simply that in 2017 it reduced payments to foster carers to the national minimum, whilst neighbouring Councils were paying significantly more.

“Similarly, nearby Councils pay more for experienced social workers and we now have 30 vacancies as our staff have jumped ship and newly qualified social workers do not head to the Council with the lowest pay. This low pay is at a time when the Council intends provide more Social Workers to support more families, so that many children do not have to go into care.

“Market forces are not usually associated with Children’s Social Care, but they are arguably key factors, ignored by the decision makers in Bradford and which have ultimately contributed to Ofsted’s conclusion that the service we provide to the most vulnerable children is ‘inadequate’.

“I do not use the word ‘ignored’ lightly. It is not a case of the Labour Council inadvertently having missed these details when making decisions. My Conservative colleagues and I repeatedly raised concerns that paying less for foster carers and social workers would lead to a skills shortage in these key areas for vulnerable children.

“The Council has systematically discouraged recruitment and retention and ended up paying far more for expensive temp agency staff, than if they had offered decent salaries in the first place. There is simply no excuse for the situation.

I want people to be clear on one thing, we have a dedicated workforce working very hard in very difficult circumstances and the Ofsted rating of the Council’s Childrens’ Services as “inadequate”, should in no way be taken as a reflection upon them”.

Councillor Whiteley added: “It is regrettable that Conservative Group warnings went unheeded by the Labour Councillors, who should take responsibility for what is a wholly political leadership failing. They knew full well what risks they were taking when they ignored our warnings that they would not have the people to look after the children. They will blame lack of funding, but all of the neighbouring Councils manage to pay more.”

Councillor Dale Smith who became the Conservative Group spokesperson for Childrens’ Services in May this year and was previously the Chair of the Children’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee said: “We must do all we can to improve our services for the 4,000 most vulnerable children in Bradford. I welcome the establishment of an ‘Improvement Board’ which will have an Independent Chairman to provide additional scrutiny. The People of Bradford deserve a better service than has been provided.”

But Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council, said: “Cllr Whiteley is just plain wrong. I’d question whether she has actually even read the report. We have, we take the findings seriously and are acting quickly upon them. The fees we pay foster carers in Bradford district are very competitive with other authorities. What’s more, on top of this we pay the level of allowances recommended by her own Government. As a result we’ve had another 83 household registrations in the last year.

“We have been very clear that we want to see rapid improvements in Children’s Services so that our most vulnerable children get the excellent response and care they deserve. But again it is factually incorrect for Cllr Whiteley to say that we have discouraged the recruitment and retention of social workers. In our budget last year, which she voted against, we increased the investment in children’s social workers specifically to help with recruitment and retention. The Ofsted report clearly states that Politicians were made aware of the issue and they committed additional resources to rectify the problems. As a result Inspectors acknowledged we have reduced social worker vacancies from 38 to only five. The challenge is how we support these new staff to develop and get up to speed as quickly as possible.

“It’s rich of Cllr Whiteley, a Conservative, to criticise the council for not spending more when her own Government is taking all the revenue support grant away from local authorities. I, along with other Leaders of councils across party, continue to call for proper funding for Children’s Social Care. Yet again the budget last week was a missed opportunity to answer those calls.

“The Local Government Association which is led by a Conservative estimates that the funding gap for Children’s Social Care will be £2 billion nationally by 2020. This is unacceptable at a time when the number of children nationally going into care has increased by a quarter and costs of placements have increased by 30% in Bradford. Theresa May’s claim that austerity is over rings hollow when it comes to local government. Cllr Whiteley needs to direct her ire elsewhere.”