Two councils with two-star social services departments have been rated as ‘poor’ under the first updated Audit Commission comprehensive performance assessment results, writes Derren Hayes.
Despite last month’s Social Services Inspectorate star ratings judging Kingston-upon Hull and Hackney Councils as serving most adults and children well, both have been placed in the lowest category under the CPA’s five category marking system for all council services due to weaknesses elsewhere.
Since its introduction last year, there have been concerns CPA ratings could unfairly tag all council services as failing when it might only be one part in trouble. This could have knock on effects for staff morale and public confidence in services.
Overall, the new scores reveal an upward trend in performance across the 150 English councils, with 26 rated as excellent (22 in 2002), 56 as good (54), 40 as fair (40), 18 as weak (21) and 10 as poor (13).
Best performances go to East Sussex Council and Windsor and Maidenhead Council for jumping two categories – weak to good – after particular improvements in social care.
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