Commentary on Sections Part 2 –Standards Provision of social services Section 81: Failings
199.This section gives the CSCI certain duties that it must carry out when, following a review or investigation,  it judges that there are failings in the provision of social services by a local authority.
200.Subsections (2) and (3) provide that the CSCI must recommend certain measures that the Secretary of State should take where local authorities’ social services have been awarded the lowest performance rating (currently a zero star) or where the CSCI judges that a local authority is failing to discharge its social services functions to an acceptable standard. Such measures might include the Secretary of State asking CSCI to monitor the local authority concerned more closely or use of the Secretary of State’s powers of intervention (as set out in the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 (section 7), the Children Act 1989 (section 81 and 84), the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 (section 50), the Local Government Act 1999 (section 15), and the Health and Social Care Act 2001 (section 46)). Following a request from the Secretary of State, the CSCI must undertake a further inspection of the local authority concerned and prepare a further report.
201.Where failings are of a less significant nature, subsections (4) and (5) provide for the CSCI to notify the local authority, setting out the detail of the failure, the action to be taken to rectify it, and the time by which by CSCI considers that this should be done. The CSCI must at this time inform the Secretary of State of the action it has taken.