'Children and families have been let down'

Joseph Timan delves inside the crisis-hit council which saw all of its leaders quit weeks after being told they were still failing vulnerable children

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A 'BRUTAL' regime with 'total control 'quick to blame' and 'slow to accept responsibility for letting A children downtime and time again.

These are the claims that have left Tameside council in turmoil.

The problems are not new they have plagued the town hall for years.

But things came to a head this week. The chief executive stood down, several councillors quit and others refused to serve in the cabinet, ultimately resulting in the resignation of the leader and his deputies.

The M.E.N. revealed on Thursday Labour is now sending its own officials to the crisis-hit council in a move that could see the national party take over.

It follows another damning report into Tameside council's failure to get a grip of its children's services. The report published by a government commissioner last month is just the latest in a long list of warnings from watchdogs dating back nearly a decade.

The council was told repeatedly it was failing vulnerable children.

Social workers were overstretched, leaving children living in 'neglect' for too long while some youngsters in care were being put in 'unsuitable' accommodation and things were not improving.

Despite all of these warnings, children's services commissioner Andy Couldrick found staff are still 'bewildered'; leaders are reluctant to accept responsibility; and politicians are too 'passive! "I believe that the council has not adequately understood, cared about, or engaged with its role and responsibilities towards its most vulnerable children," he concluded.

"Children and families have been let down, and not exclusively by service leaders, but by the whole council, political and corporate... this has to change quickly."

How did it come to this?