Denials of a crisis at Ealing Council were starting to look less credible after the borough's social services department was rated one of the worst in the country.

The head of the body responsible for the inspection of social services in England and Wales is requesting an urgent meeting with John Cudmore to discuss measures that will be taken to improve the service.

It is not known at this stage whether the recent announcement of high level departures from the Council, including Gillian Guy the Chief Executive, is related to the publication of the report. On the day the report was published it was also revealed that Stephen Sears, head of transport at the Council was also planning to step down.

Ealing Council's rating for social care has slipped from one star to zero stars in the annual Report just published by the Commission for Social Care and Inspection (CSCI). It was one of only 8 Councils in the country to receive the lowest rating. Social care covers all social services, including residential and nursing homes, domiciliary care, children's homes and foster carers.

CSCI's Chief Inspector, David Behan said, "Zero star councils automatically fall into special measures. They are monitored monthly, and have to produce a performance action plan to show how they intend to improve. Some may need to employ external consultants, working with existing staff, to deliver improvement."

He plans to convene a meeting with John Cudmore the leader of Ealing Council to discuss the fall to a zero star rating as soon as possible.

The report says that the service in Ealing was serving most children under its care well but concluded prospects for improvement in this department were uncertain. This is particularly disappointing because last year, the service's potential to improve care of children was considered promising. For services to adults the report says that only some Ealing residents were receiving a good service but that the capacity to improve is currently poor.

As regards children's services, the report says, "The Council has continued to deliver good outcomes for children and families. There is a strong commitment to safeguarding and
protecting children. This commitment is reflected in the level of councillor involvement and the appointment of a Lead Member for children."

This is encouraging, given the spotlight on weak processes and follow-through in Ealing revealed in the Victoria Climbie enquiry. All the changes recommended in the aftermath of that enquiry have been implemented.

There have also been strong achievements in improving the life chances for looked after children, with good numbers going on to further education. There are however major weaknesses in the time it takes to carry out reviews, in the number of looked after children being adopted and in 19% of looked after children experiencing three or more placements during the year. Prospects for improvement at the moment look uncertain, they say.

Judith Finlay, director of social services, said: “This rating is therefore not a reflection upon the quality of the social care services we provide. Rather, it is because the inspectors did not accept that we have the capacity to continue making improvements to services and we were unable to persuade them we now have in place a strong social services management team.”

Ms Finlay became director of social services last month. Previously she was director of children’s services for six years. Mun Thong Phung joined Ealing as director of adults services on 1st November 2004 and was previously divisional director of social services (older people and physical disabilities) at Croydon Council.

For services to adults, the position less encouraging. While the council has shown good results in helping older people to live at home by providing intensive home care, it takes a long time to assess people with needs and their carers. There are very few intermediate care facilities for adults and older people, and large numbers face delays waiting for hospital discharge. While Ealing Hospital contributes to this problem, the council has the largest number of delayed discharges due to social services in London. Its "inability to work with Health partners" is hampering progress.

The Report explains that one the key issues facing Social Services in Ealing has been the significant turnover at the senior management level, as well as a lack of permanent Directors of Education and Social Services. This position has worsened since the report was issued. Furthermore, staff turnover is greater than similar boroughs and the vacancy rate is very high for outer London. One factor contributing towards this may be the low percentage of expenditure on staff training. Uncertainty about future planning is exacerbated by the Council�s very poor financial position. The report also notes that "the collection and accuracy of management data needs urgent attention".

Cllr Gary Malcolm said: “Only a year ago Ealing Council was rated a poor one star. Now we see the situation getting worse. Lib Dems said the badly structured management changes over the past year were a sign of poor future performance. Ealing Council has not looked after the finances which have led to overspends and key members of staff have left."

Cllr Martin Beecroft, cabinet member for independent living, said: “We are the only zero star authority that has been found to serve most children well and only six one star authorities were found to serve either most adults or children well.”

He added: “We recognise CSCI has judged there have been issues relating to the stability of the social services management team and this has impacted on our capacity to improve. We now have a strong management team in place and are confident of continued developments and improvements to our services."

Since first published in 2002, the national trend for all councils shows a year-on-year improvement. Ten of the twelve councils that were on zero stars in 2002 have improved sufficiently to be awarded a star.

The ratings form part of the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) carried out by the Audit Commission, which aims to support councils in delivering improvements in services to local people. A council must receive a good star rating for their social services in order to receive the highest comprehensive performance assessment rating. A poor assessment feeds into the CPA score which means that Ealing could risk a decline to a 'Poor' rating again.