LANCASHIRE Social Services are facing a significant challenge to improve services following scathing criticism from inspectors.

And the Conservative group has called for consultants to be brought in to sort out the service's problems.

The Audit Commission concluded that the people of Lancashire "are not consistently well served" by the department that social workers often don't intervene in cases until the situation reaches crisis point.

And it tells how the audit team discovered 13 children on the child protection register in March last year did not have an allocated social worker according to records.

Andrew Webster, director of joint reviews, said: "Lancashire faces a significant challenge to improve services for local people. Despite evidence that social services are well regarded, the review team has identified fundamental weaknesses in the way they are planned, managed and delivered. Lancashire must urgently undertake a radical review of all social services."

The report criticised the high numbers of children and older people put into institutional care and said that a higher proportion of these children should be in foster care. Management of the department was described as 'not conducive to the creation of a flexible, well motivated workforce' and the pervading culture of the authority is described as one of 'defensiveness' with morale 'depressed by distrust'.

Coun Doreen Pollitt, chairman of the county's social services committee, said: "The review was undertaken at a time when six years of uncertainty for staff had only recently ended. Local government reorganisation had raised many questions and concerns about the future of services and of the many staff it employs.

"We see the overall judgement of the review as being overly harsh.

"The approach taken in the review report is generally a negative one. It is very unfortunate that the many areas of significant strengths and the major changes over a number of years have not been given greater prominence."

Conservative spokesman, coun Joyce Stuart, said: "It certainly gives us no pleasure to comment on such a damning report.

"Common sense and good management have been swamped by political dogma and arrogance.

"There is a strong case for calling in consultants to supervise change and sort out this sorry mess".

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