A damning report finds “widespread or serious failures” that could result in children being “harmed or at risk of harm”.
The school watchdog inspected the town’s services a month after the Jay report into child sexual abuse in Rotherham, which was published in August. The report said that more than 1,400 children had been subjected to sexual abuse in the town between 1997 and 2013.
Ofsted inspectors referred 13 cases back to the local authority because of “serious issues of concern” after finding “poor practice” remained. Despite new systems being put in place since the report’s publication, social workers and police were still not working together effectively, the inspectorate said. Strategy discussions about cases were not meeting statutory guidelines and key information held by agencies was not being taken into account.
The report comes a day after the Independent Police Complaints Commission said it was investigating 10 officers over allegations that they failed to deal properly with child sexual exploitation in the South Yorkshire town. Ofsted itself was also criticised yesterday over past failures.
Over the next few months, more reports and investigations will focus on those who failed to act. A search is under way to find out what happened to a file of abuse allegations handed over to the Home Office more than a decade ago.
Meanwhile, many victims in Rotherham are still waiting and hoping charges will be brought against the alleged perpetrators. There are fears that those who failed them are still working without facing any redress.