Trafford Council's children's services have been rated inadequate in two key areas by Ofsted, with inspectors warning that delays in responding to concerns about children have left some at risk of harm.
The report, published yesterday following a two-week inspection between June 8th and 19th, judged both the impact of leaders on social work practice and the experiences of children who need help and protection to be inadequate - the watchdog's lowest grade.
Services for children in care were rated good, while support for care leavers requires improvement to be good.
Inspectors, led by His Majesty's Inspector Leanne Cooper, found that since the council's last full inspection in 2022 - when it was rated requires improvement across the board - leaders had failed to recognise and act on shortfalls in critical parts of the service.
The sharpest criticism was reserved for the council's "front door" - the point at which concerns about children are first reported. The report found that responses to contacts about children take too long, are not prioritised in line with risk, and that many children face lengthy delays before their needs are even considered. During those delays, inspectors said, children's circumstances remain unknown.
'At risk of unassessed significant harm'
Strategy discussions - urgent multi-agency meetings held when a child is identified as being at risk of significant harm - are too often delayed, leaving children in potentially unsafe situations for too long and at risk of what inspectors called unassessed significant harm.
The report also raised serious concerns about homeless 16- and 17-year-olds. While these young people receive prompt assessments, inspectors found serious and significant delays in agreeing for them to come into care when needed, meaning some were left in unsafe circumstances and suffered significant harm.
A small number of children did not come into care when they needed to, experiencing neglect, domestic abuse and other harm for too long. Inspectors also found that no children had been identified as young carers during assessments in the last 12 months, describing this area of practice as underdeveloped.
Perhaps most damning for the council's leadership, inspectors concluded that until the inspection took place, senior leaders had not fully understood the scale of the problems. Their self-assessment of the service was not wholly accurate, and while some action had been taken - such as reallocating resources - leaders had not been effective in prioritising and driving improvement in critical areas.
The picture was not uniformly bleak. Services for children in care were judged good, with inspectors finding stable placements, strong relationships between children and social workers, and effective permanence planning. Foster carers were described as knowledgeable and genuinely committed to the children in their care.
The Emergency Duty Team, criticised at the 2022 inspection, has much improved. The SHINE team supporting children at risk of exploitation was praised for strong, relationship-based work, and the council's response to children missing education was found to be swift and thorough.
Inspectors also noted that political and corporate commitment to children remains strong, with continued investment despite financial pressures, and that the council has successfully stabilised its social work workforce through its 'Progress to Permanent' programme. Staff told inspectors they enjoy working in Trafford, though some expressed frustration at the slow pace of change.
Support for care-experienced young people aged 21 and over has improved since Ofsted's most recent focused visit in 2025, with an 'opt out' approach encouraging young people to continue receiving support.
A troubled history
The judgment marks another low point in a turbulent decade for children's services in Trafford.
In 2015, under the then Conservative administration, the council was rated good overall, with leadership and services for care leavers judged outstanding. By March 2019, that had collapsed: Ofsted rated the service inadequate overall, finding widespread deterioration that leaders had been entirely unaware of.
Labour took majority control of the council in 2019, following a year of no overall control after 14 years of Conservative administration. A new senior leadership team installed in 2020 was credited by Ofsted in 2022 with creating stronger foundations for improvement, and the council climbed to requires improvement at that inspection.
This latest report means that, four years on, key parts of the service have slid back to inadequate on Labour's watch.
'A significant failure'
Opposition leaders reacted strongly to the findings.
Nathan Evans, leader of Trafford Conservatives, said: "This is one of the most serious judgements Ofsted can make. It represents a significant failure in the Council's duty to safeguard and support some of Trafford's most vulnerable children and families."
Trafford Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Shaun Ennis called the report "a devastating outcome for Trafford", adding it was "deeply concerning for families and young people to hear that the council is falling short of the level of care it should be providing."
"There are clearly many areas where improvements have to be made and it is for the Labour leadership to very clearly set out their plan to do that," he said.
But Cllr Ennis also pointed the finger at central government: "Whilst the Liberal Democrats will continue to hold the ruling group to account, we are also clear that staff on the ground across our children's services are being tasked with the impossible.
"Trafford is a critically underfunded council. The money that the government gives us does not match the cost of the services we are required to provide. Ultimately, the buck stops with the new Prime Minister, who knows better than most the dire financial challenges that Trafford is facing and who has it very much in his power to change things."
Trafford Council has been approached for comment.
The council can now expect a programme of Ofsted monitoring visits as it works to address the failings identified.
