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Herefordshire Council’s children’s services is still making “too little progress” in addressing long-standing shortcomings, according to a government appointee who has been trying for the last two years to help get it back on track.

Children’s commissioner Eleanor Brazil was appointed in late 2022 to investigate the department’s failings and propose fixes, after Ofsted rated the department “inadequate” across the board.

But her latest report concludes that “there has been some positive progress from a very low base, although too little to make the degree of change needed”.

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“The council consistently failed to address issues at pace and with clear direction and leadership, so everything has taken too long,” she wrote.

Support during this time from the government and other local authorities, as well as extra funding, has brought “varying impact and success”, while recruiting and keeping staff “remains a major concern”.

On the plus side, numbers of children in care in the county are now closer to other similar authorities, planned savings in agency staff and placement costs have been achieved, while the progress in special educational needs provision “is more positive, driven by greater leadership, focus and direction”, Ms Brazil said.

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And she praised the “greater rigour and drive” brought by Tina Russell, appointed to replace the outgoing service head Darryl Freeman in spring.

Publication of her report coincides with the latest Ofsted monitoring visit report, the fifth of its kind since the “inadequate” rating, which paints a mixed but generally more positive picture.

Focusing this time on how the county protects vulnerable children from “extra-familial risk”, inspectors found “early signs of improvement” under a new plan being pushed through by Ms Russell.

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The departmental team responsible “works effectively and reduces risks for many children who are vulnerable to or at risk of exploitation”, though some complex cases “experience delays in effective intervention”, they concluded.

Welcoming the two reports, the council’s cabinet member for children and young people Ivan Powell said: “We’re really pleased that both reports acknowledge positive signs of improvement.

“We recognise that we still have some work to do but we are in in a considerably better place than we were two years ago.”