EVERY council-run children’s service in Merseyside is either 'inadequate' or 'requires improvement', according to inspectors.

Statistics released by Ofsted this week show that Wirral Council received the lowest possible overall rating of 'inadequate' at their last inspection in 2016.

Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton and St Helens councils all received a rating of 'requires improvement' – meaning that no area had good or outstanding standards.

They were rated good for adoption performance, experiences and progress of care leavers, and for leadership.

The ratings cover the overall standard of children’s services provided by councils. This can include children’s homes, residential special schools and other agencies and services that are overseen by local authorities.

Looking at children’s homes run by all providers, not just councils, 78% of homes were rated good, while 14% required improvement or were inadequate.

Only 8% of children’s homes in Merseyside were rated outstanding – down from 10% in 2017/18.

The figures released this week reflect the situation at the end of March.

Liverpool City Councillor Barry Kushner, Cabinet member for children’s services, called the report an ‘accurate assessment’, and said the council is taking on 16 extra staff to tackle the increased workload.

He said: “Although we’re improving, we know we’ve still got a way to go, but what’s crucial is we know how we are going to get there and have plans in place to address every single area identified by Ofsted for further development.

“Every day, our social work teams are going the extra mile to keep Liverpool’s most vulnerable children safe and, for the most part, they are getting it right.

“Ofsted recognised this too.”

Cllr Kushner also said the council’s improvements were impressive when set against the backdrop of austerity, which has seen local authority budgets put under increasing strain.

It is possible a council or children’s home might have been re-inspected since March, and now have a different grade.

Cllr Bernie Mooney, Wirral Council cabinet member for Children and Families said services were very different now than when they were last inspected.

He said: “We have appointed a completely new senior management team, we are recruiting almost 80 new social workers and we have invested more than £20 million into making sure our services are of the high quality our residents deserve.

‘While the challenge is not yet over, and we still have improvements to make, I am heartened by the ongoing feedback we have received from Ofsted which has been clear that we are making progress in all areas.

“I will not rest until our services are outstanding. Everybody involved in these changes is dedicated to ensuring we have only the best services in Wirral. Our residents – and particularly our vulnerable children – deserve nothing less.’

Sefton Council echoed this, with their spokesman saying: “We were last inspected two years ago and while the judgement remains the same, a lot of hard work has gone into the service to improve and continues to do so.

“We have an agreed action plan to improve to a ‘good’ judgement and will continue to make sure children across the borough remain safe.”

The report shows that Knowsley council managed to improve their rating from 2016/17, achieving “requires improvement” instead of “inadequate”.

A council spokesman said: “Our improvement journey was further commended in April this year when Malcolm Newsam CBE conducted a diagnostic review of our children’s services and confirmed that our children’s social care work and practice were continuing to improve.

"It is important to note that some areas of our Children’s Services were rated as ‘Good’ by Ofsted, including our leadership and management, adoption and care leavers.

“All of Knowsley’s children’s homes have been rated as Outstanding or Good.”

St Helens Council was approached for comment but did not respond by the time of publication.