Rochdale Council inadequate at protecting vulnerable children

As Rochdale Council prepares to increase the pay of its chief executive and other senior executives by as much as 30%, Ofsted says the Council is "inadequate" at caring for some of the most vulnerable children in society. The watchdog has found the standard of child protection is "unacceptably poor".

The watchdog, which inspects children's social care including child protective services, said more needs to be done to address "incompetent and ineffective" leadership in children's services.

In its first stand-alone social care annual report, Ofsted said that children's services need "strong and stable leadership" to improve the services that provide help, care and protection to children at risk of abuse or neglect.

It said managers do not have a "firm understanding" of what constitutes good practice.

Rochdale Council has been asked to comment and this report will be updated in due course.