Ofsted inspectors praise Warwickshire County Council for making improvements in its children's services

Children's services in Warwickshire have been rated as 'good' following a recent Ofsted inspection.

Warwickshire County Council (WCC) says it is "delighted" at having been judged as good in all areas in the inspection report - which shows it has made great improvements in how it helps youngsters since its last inspection in May 2017, when the report concluded that children’s services 'required improvement'.

But the latest report, published today (Tuesday February 1) has also highlighted areas in which the authority can improve its services which include "providing a consistently high quality of practice for disabled children".

The latest inspection found that children and families in Warwickshire benefit from consistently good quality services at an early stage, making a real difference to their lives.

Ofsted found that WCC social workers listen carefully to children and make sure that children’s views inform decision-making.

Social workers were found to be building stronger, more trusting relationships with families, giving parents confidence to develop their parenting skills.

Ofsted also found when children come into care, they are placed within their wider family if this is possible and in their best interests.

Most children in care live in long-term homes and make good progress.

When they’re ready to leave care, they receive ‘committed, consistent and purposeful support’ and are supported well to live independently, developing confidence and skills to assist them into adulthood.

The investment into the development of early help services means better support is now available for families and parents are more confident to seek their own solutions before a problem escalates.

Over the last five years, the council has also invested in its workforce, introducing the Warwickshire Family Safeguarding programme, which has seen the recruitment of specialist mental health, domestic abuse and substance misuse practitioners to better support families. The county council and partner agencies have also introduced a whole family approach and established Warwickshire Family Values, which ensures children are supported to remain within their families where it is safe for them to do so, by providing parents with the right support at the right time.

Ofsted inspectors found leadership was good and children’s needs were met. Since the last full inspection of services for children in need of safeguarding and those in the care of Warwickshire, inspectors noted that council leaders are determined to continue the trajectory of improvement.

The report stated that: “Senior leaders have developed a culture and an organisational ethos that value children and families and they aspire to do the very best for them. The strengths and relationship-based social work model is embedded, with actions taken to improve services and practice having a tangible impact for many vulnerable children in Warwickshire.

The report also referenced that: “Leaders have implemented a wide range of measures to ensure that children’s needs are met well.

"They have a sound understanding of the quality of frontline practice and, despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been tenacious in securing resources and ensuring that services continue to improve. As a result, social workers have continued to support vulnerable children well.”

The inspectors recognised that WCC 'places children’s needs at the heart of all it does and works hard to ensure their voices are heard'.

The report says: “Senior leaders, including the director of children’s services, the chief executive, leader and lead member, listen and learn from children, staff and carers when planning service development.

"The corporate parenting panel challenges senior managers and partners, and enables the voices of children to be heard. The children in care council and care leaver forum are influential groups that have contributed to the development of many services and policies, including the service structure.”

Cllr Jeff Morgan, WCC's portfolio holder for children’s services, said: “I am so proud of the rating we have received from Ofsted today.

"Our workforce and partner agencies have worked tirelessly to transform children’s services.

"Since the last inspection in 2017 and throughout the global pandemic, we have continued to focus on long-term improvements to better support some of our most vulnerable children and families, and I’m so pleased that Ofsted has recognised this.

“I’d like to pay tribute to our partners and everyone in our children’s services, who all work with passion and purpose every day to improve the lives of children in Warwickshire.

"I would also like to thank the children and young people who engaged with us throughout our journey to improve services, we remain committed to making Warwickshire the best place it can be for them to live, learn and grow.

“We know the work doesn’t stop here though. We are continuing to improve our children’s services to achieve excellence and we welcome the recommendations Ofsted have made to further strengthen our ambition of making Warwickshire a child friendly county.”

One of the four main areas the report identified in which WCC can improve its children's services was its provision for disabled children.

The report says: "Practice for disabled children is variable.

"Many children receive an effective service, with assessments and plans which reflect their complex needs and draw on information from all agencies involved.

"However, others do not have up-to-date assessments or chronologies, which senior leaders recognise is due to higher workloads in this team."

Another area with room for improvement was 'ensuring that plans routinely include timescales for action'.

The report says: "Generally, although plans are detailed and most are appropriately focused, too many actions lack timescales to monitor progress and to hold professionals and families to

account."

To read the full report click here.