An Ofsted probe after Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’s death finds Solihull children’s services inadequate.
Image source, FamilyChildren in the town where Arthur Labinjo-Hughes lived before his death are experiencing “significant harm” due to delayed responses by council services, a report has found.
An Ofsted inspection of Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council has rated its services as inadequate.
Six-year-old Arthur’s father and stepmother were jailed for his killing at their home in June 2020.
The BBC has approached the council for comment.
The report into Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council’s children’s services comes after an inspection in November last year.
Published on Friday, it said:
- Children in Solihull are not getting the help they need at the right time
- When there is a concern that a child is at risk of harm, the response is too slow
- Too many children in need of help and protection are subject to repeat intervention and plans
- For too many children, previous interventions had not led to an improved outcome
- A delay in response had led to some children experiencing significant harm.
Ofsted has made a number of recommendations for improvement.
Emma Tustin was jailed for murder and Arthur’s father Thomas Hughes for manslaughter.
An earlier review had said Arthur’s wider family had “contacted every agency they could think of”, some several times, but “their voice was not heard”, with a failure by social workers to fully investigate bruises on the murdered schoolboy a “pivotal” moment to save him, a review has found.
Tustin and Hughes’s trial heard that after his death, 130 bruises were found on Arthur’s body, and that he was subjected to salt poisoning, deprived of food and drink and made to stand alone for hours on end.
Image source, West Midlands Police
He suffered a catastrophic brain injury while in the care of his stepmother on 16 June, with his final days captured on CCTV installed in the living room where he was forced to sleep.
Earlier this year, Solihull Children’s Services department’s new director Pete Campbell revealed the number of children in care within the borough has doubled over the last 10-12 years.
A government intervention announced in November last year saw the department receive an urgent £642,402 grant.
Education Secretary Kit Malthouse also sent Sir Alan Wood, former director for children’s services in the London borough of Hackney, to work with the council.
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