Children in Lincolnshire could be placed at risk because of bad management within social services in the county, a report has concluded.

A Social Services Inspectorate investigation into Lincolnshire County Council's children's services reports mixed findings and identifies a number of failings but highlights adoption services as a strength.

Social services committee chairman Councillor Edward Bliss and director Matt Bukowski have pledged their determination to put things right.

Service managers and the inspectors met this week to develop an action plan to turn the situation around immediately.

Report author Ben Irons said: "Overall Lincolnshire's child care services were of variable quality. We saw some good practice, some weak practice.

"We did not find any children who were left in situations of significant harm, yet we felt that a concentrated effort was required by the entire service to establish a baseline of acceptable practice.

"At present the inconsistencies in practice and the lack of management oversight and scrutiny could lead to children being left in unsafe situations."

It highlights a problem of one in four social worker posts being unfilled and "generally fairly low" staff morale even where teams were fully staffed.

It also criticises councillors for not taking their role as "corporate parents" more seriously in visiting homes.

Councillor Bliss said the report was helpful in steering the council on issues and inadequacies it was already aware off.

"It recognises that we are working towards putting things right already."

The staffing crisis took managers away from their jobs into field work and left children without a named social worker.

"It's a catch 22, morale will be low where we're understaffed and people have to work harder," said Councillor Bliss.

He accepted there should be a closer partnership with parents and that children should be listened to more.

"I could not agree more on the need to improve consistency across the county. People have been doing things their own way to their own satisfaction for a number of years and now they have to change their established ways," he said.

Mr Bukowski said a shake-up from 11 teams down to three had already helped, but the report said there was a lack of clear strategy to drive this change in culture and that teams still worked in consistently and with autonomy. Recruitment was a real concern.

"It's a challenge that we are determined to do something about," he said.

"They have not found any children in unsafe situations now, but we realise the potential if we do not act on this."

The council was found to be performing well on adoption, in partnership with other agencies such as police and health, and on improving children's homes.

Labour group leader Councillor Rob Parker, a former social worker, said the recruitment problem was a "serious is sue".

"No child was found to be at risk, but potentially they could be," he said. "The culture at the moment does not seem to be one of stressing high quality standards."

Used courtesy of the Lincolnshire Echo