NEW calls are being made for Bradford Council bosses to step down in the wake of the damning Ofsted report into children's services.

The report said there were "widespread and serious failures" which left children at risk of harm.

Inspectors once again gave an 'inadequate' rating.

It was the last inspection before the running of children's services is taken over by a trust in April.

Ofsted said that while progress had been achieved in "some discrete areas", the pace of improvements had been "very slow" and it added that "corporate leaders continue to lack understanding of the scale of improvement required and what actions, time and resources are needed".

Keighley MP Robbie Moore says: "The report firmly concludes that failures within children's services lie at the door of decision makers and senior leaders. It is beyond belief that the chief executive Kersten England has been allowed to remain in her post.

"The main role of a council leader is to hold senior executive officers to account and set a clear direction for the improvement of council services, but Bradford Council leader Susan Hinchcliffe has failed to do both.

"I am once again calling on both leaders to resign."

Worth Valley councillor Rebecca Poulsen, leader of the Conservative group on the council, says the district's children and young people "deserve better".

She added: "The report highlights that since the last inspection over four years ago and throughout the seven monitoring inspections between the two Ofsted reports, the experience and progress of many children has declined. It is not the case that improvements have not been fast enough, they've gone backwards. This is despite huge amounts of funding put into the service."

Ms England, who will be retiring from the chief executive role this summer, says: "There has been a huge commitment and investment in implementing improvement in children’s social care and Ofsted acknowledges that there have been some small recent improvements under the leadership of the newly appointed director of children’s services. We know however that much more is needed."

Councillor Hinchcliffe says: "We acknowledge that the pace of improvement has been too slow since 2018 and fully accept Ofsted’s findings. Everyone is focussed on trying to speed up the pace of change. This is why we have been working closely with the Government’s own commissioner and why we are setting up an independent trust to manage children’s social care services."