A top government advisor has found Medway Council continues to fail in its role handling services for vulnerable children.

The local authority remains at risk of losing control of its Children's Services department after it received an 'Inadequate' rating from Ofsted following an inspection in July.

The Department for Education appointed commissioner Eleanor Brazil to conduct a three-month audit of the department, with the council required to draw up an improvement action plan.

The results of the report were published today, concluding: "The council is failing to perform to an adequate standard."

As such, Mrs Brazil will continue in her role with the council for up to 12 months in order to "assess... whether the support has had the intended impact, or if not, if the council should continue to retain operational control".

She has recommended more training for council workers and suggested senior leaders visit front-line service staff.

One of the issues set out in the Ofsted report concerned the case loads of social workers, an issue which is yet to be addressed.

The report reads: "More rigour is needed in all parts of the process. Social workers with high case loads struggle with prioritising tasks.

"Agency workers can leave the authority at short notice and this leaves a full workload needing to be re-allocated.

"The impact can be seen in different ways. There are unallocated cases. The number is reducing and now stands at around 15 but has been as high as 60 in the past few months."

It also read: "It is clear from staff feedback, that they do not see enough of senior leaders, and communication has historically been poor."

Mrs Brazil conducted interviews with social workers, with one quote reading: “I’m so sad for my looked-after children. I just can’t do what I should do and they don’t get what they need and deserve from me.”

Among the issues addressed was the over reliance on interim and agency managers and social workers, which places demands on the budget which could be lessened by successful recruitment and retention.

Medway Council spent almost £1 million over its budget for child social care last year.

Lead member for children’s services, Cllr Josie Iles (Con), said: “We are committed to making immediate changes and have already taken a number of urgent steps to improve the service we deliver, including recruiting additional social workers to help reduce case loads and provide more efficient support to young people.

"We are also recruiting two new assistant directors of Children’s Services and Education to improve the leadership of our Children’s Services.

"The newly-established Improvement Board, which has an independent chair, is helping to ensure there is a clear plan to support change and that we remain clearly focussed on the recommendations set out by the Commissioner and Ofsted.

"Colleagues from our leading partner agencies, including education, health and police, are central to the effectiveness of the board and this is helping us all to work better together for Medway’s children.

"Internally, we have created a staff reference group to give colleagues the opportunity to have their input, and this group, which is also represented on the Improvement Board, is working well.

“We welcome the recommendation to work with a leadership improvement partner. There is still much to be done but we are fully committed to transforming the service."

Cllr Clive Johnson, Labour's education spokesman, described it as a "shocking" report which was indicative of the Tories' poor leadership and administration.

But he welcomed the decision to keep Children's Services under the council's control and under close scrutiny.

He said: "Medway Council is now under probation for the next six months, under intense scrutiny and needs to show significant and rapid improvement.

"The adminstration's credibility is on the line.

"Having sat on children and young people's overview and scrutiny committee for over four years, I look forward to the prospect of robust scrutiny and powerful change.

"Even though the Ofsted outcome highlighted the shocking incompetence of the Conservative administration, this is likely to be the best outcome for Medway's children and young people.

"It would have been much worse for our children's services to be taken over by another provider."

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