A CHARITY has slammed the council for failing to make enough progress to improve children's services following a damning Ofsted report.

Reading Borough Council was forced to hand over the service to an external trading company after inspectors criticised their approach to caring for vulnerable children.

The trading company will be wholly owned by the council who had a Children's Commissioner appointed after being rated 'Inadequate' by the national watchdog in August 2016.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is calling for further monitoring to ensure further improvements are made.

A spokesman for the NSPCC said: “It is clear that progress has not been made as swiftly as required and it is important that the government’s latest directions to Reading Borough Council are closely observed.

“A number of child protection concerns were highlighted in last year’s Ofsted report and further significant improvement is now an urgent priority.”

The local authority will apply to the Government for funding to set up the new company which should be operational by September 2018.

Education chiefs set up regular visits with the council to monitor progress, but were often critical of the authority.

Ofsted's visits in May and June noted: "The local authority is still not making the expected progress in improving services for its children and young people.

"Work to stabilise the workforce has been ineffective and no progress has been made since the last visit.

"The majority of senior, middle and frontline managers remain temporary workers and the percentage of permanently employed social workers has declined slightly."

The council was criticised in the original inspection after children were not visited by social workers in the appropriate timeframe.

Council leader Jo Lovelock added: "Throughout this process our priority has always been to put children first, and that is also at the heart of this decision.

"While improvements have been made, every organisation involved in children services in Reading accepts the pace of improvement is not quick enough.

"It means we can build on the improvements made and it will allow us to ensure those improvements are sustainable."