School leaders have told Ofsted they are often working in “isolation” to safeguard vulnerable children.
Ofsted inspectors looked into multi-agency arrangements to help and protect children across five local authority areas - Sunderland, Wirral, Harrow, Bedford and Surrey - with inspections taking place between December 2022 and March 2023.
In 2023 and 2022, schools were the second most common source of referral to children’s social care after the police. The proportion of referrals coming from schools was 20.1 per cent in the year ending March 2023.
Schools have been in the top three sources of referrals since at least 2014.
Ofsted findings on safeguarding
Here are three main findings from Ofsted’s report:
1. ‘Weak’ join-up between schools and other agencies
Inspectors found that join-up between schools and other agencies was “weak”, and said more work needed to be done so that schools’ “critical” role is understood.
“Local safeguarding partnerships need to ensure greater engagement and strategic consensus with partner agencies, particularly schools,” the report says, recommending that government reforms address this.
“Because of their close engagement with children and families, schools are well placed to spot the earliest signs of a family in need of help. They can often provide appropriate help in a non-intrusive way,” the report adds.
“Inspectors saw good practice by schools and evidence of positive outcomes for children. However, school leaders reported that they were too often working in isolation to keep vulnerable children physically, socially and emotionally safe.”
In one area, education was missing entirely from discussions on multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.
2. Operation Encompass not always implemented effectively
Operation Encompass is a process that enables police to inform schools about domestic abuse incidents so they can offer appropriate support to children. Some of the areas inspected were signed up to this. However, in some cases the system was not being implemented effectively.
In one area, oversight groups did not know if all schools were signed up to Operation Encompass and this was not picked up until inspection. Another group did not have any early years settings signed up, and another did not cover children at independent schools.
3. Professionals need ‘appropriate training’
The Ofsted report says all partners working with children, including schools, need a shared understanding of what early help is, and that appropriate training should be given to professionals to help them understand what to do when children need help.
A previous Tes investigation earlier this year found that as many as three-quarters of referrals from schools to social services were resulting in no further action being taken by local authorities. Schools told Tes at the time that this left them using their own resources to challenge decisions.
Ofsted inspectors found examples of some school staff not understanding that referrals and assessments may result in no further action, and said staff needed to be made aware of the outcomes of referrals.
In one case, inspectors said the local area had not acted on information shared between schools, health services and the local authority inclusion officer about a 10-year-old girl from a Traveller family and her siblings.
The children had records of high absence and early help workers had supported elective home education for them, despite their mother being illiterate. Inspectors said not enough was being done to ensure they received an education or were appropriately safeguarded.
The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.
