Three councils receive Outstanding ratings in latest Ofsted reports

Ofsted has published the outcomes of children’s services inspections for ten councils, with three receiving the top grade of ‘Outstanding’.

Leicestershire County Council, Northumberland County Council and Telford and Wrekin Council all received overall ratings of ‘Outstanding’ from the children’s services inspectorate from visits that took place in Spring.

Inspectors said a culture has been created by Leicestershire County Council’s Children and Family Services which puts the experiences and progress of children “at the heart of social work practice” as they improved from their ‘Requires Improvement’ rating in 2019 to receive the top grade last week.

Recent changes to the service were praised, including the rolling out of new Family Hubs and the Family Help service. These bring together targeted early help services and social workers, to strengthen work with children in need, and Family Safeguarding teams to work with children in need of protection.

Northumberland Council had similarly improved on their previous ‘Good’ rating as inspectors praised the “impressive” quality of direct work with children. The report said social workers work “creatively to build meaningful relationships with children and the positive use of family networks.”

Cllr Guy Renner-Thompson, Cabinet member with responsibility for Inspiring Young People, said he was ‘incredibly proud’ of the recognition from Ofsted.

“It is testament to the dedication and passion shown by all our teams across the service and our partners to put children and families at the heart of all that they do. They are all true children’s champions.”

Telford and Wrekin Council retained their ‘Outstanding’ judgement from 2020 as inspectors praised the “exceptional social work practice” received by their children in care and care leavers.

Participation and co-production, through having children and families involved in the development of services, was also highlighted as a real strength of the service and the report went on to praise senior leaders for implementing ambitious plans which prioritise the needs of children and young people.

Five councils also received ‘Good’ ratings – Ealing Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, Oldham Council, Rutland County Council, and Westmorland and Furness Council.

Oldham Council Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Shaid Mushtaq, praised all of the teams across their services for children and young people as inspectors gave the ‘Good’ rating across all five areas of the inspection. “This is a fantastic result for our children’s services and places us as one of the fastest improving authorities in the country,” Mushtaq said.

Reading Borough Council’s Children’s Services, however, received an overall rating of ‘Requires improvement to be good’. This was despite the experiences and progress of children in care, and the experiences and progress of care leavers being rated as ‘Good’.

Meanwhile, Halton Borough Council’s Children’s Services were rated ‘Inadequate’ in all areas, with inspectors saying that there had been a “significant deterioration in the quality of practice for children and young people” since their last visit in 2020, adding that there are “serious and widespread weaknesses across the service.”