Social workers responsible for the safety of a child found hanged after suffering neglect were under trained and overworked, inspectors say.
Eight-year-old Charlotte Avenall, who died after being locked in her "filthy" Nottinghamshire bedroom, had been known to social workers for several years.
The county council’s care has been criticised as "inadequate" by Ofsted.
Inspectors found case workers knew Charlotte’s parents locked her in her bedroom at night.
Susan and Simon Moody were each sentenced to a year in jail last month after pleading guilty to child neglect.
Delays in action
Charlotte, who had severe learning difficulties, was forced to use her chest of drawers as a toilet and had smeared excrement on the walls and ceiling of her bedroom.
Social workers had visited the family’s house in Mansfield weeks before she died, but failed to make a follow up appointment after finding nobody at home.
Ofsted’s report stated: "There is a significant shortage of frontline social work staff and the demand for the service, particularly referrals and re-referrals, has increased by 43% resulting in children not being effectively safeguarded."
Inspectors found the quality of assessments was often poor and there were delays in assessing children that could be at risk, as well as in taking action over those identified as at risk of significant harm.
Staff retrained
A backlog of 140 children awaiting assessment was found in one office.
In its own serious case review into Charlotte’s death the county council said the staff who dealt with the case had been retrained and more staff had been employed.
Anthony May, director of children and young people’s services, refused to say whether any staff had been disciplined over the handling of the case at a press conference earlier.
He said the council had been too focused on providing Charlotte’s parents with the right support to look after a disabled child, rather than assessing whether she was in danger.
He added: "I accept the report’s findings and I am committed to continuing to improve services.
"It is going to take hard work and going to take time."
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