Children's Services in Cumbria still 'require improvements' following Ofsted inspection
A report by the education watchdog Ofsted has described Cumbria County Council’s children’s services as “requiring improvement”.
The report also details a number of improvements achieved in recent years.
The council’s children’s services department was inspected by Ofsted between 20 - 30 September 2022.
The service was judged to be “inadequate” during a full inspection in 2015, and as “requiring improvement” in a 2017 inspection.
Ofsted’s report found that although services had improved in recent years, the “pace of improvement in some areas has been too slow”.
The latest report points out significant improvements in some areas. It says: "The local authority has continued to strengthen the impact of relationships with key partners.
“Better application of thresholds between early help and children’s social care means that children usually receive the right help at the right time.
"Disabled children in need of help and protection now benefit from effective support. The majority of children in care and care leavers live in good quality, stable placements that meet their needs."
However, highlighting the issues requiring improvement, the report states: "Children are not receiving a consistently good response to meet their needs.
"Assessments and plans for children in need of help and protection are not always thorough and child-focused.
"There is not a sufficiently robust response to reducing risks for vulnerable groups of children, including those children who go missing or are at risk of exploitation, those children experiencing long-term neglect, and for children who are privately fostered."
John Readman, the county council’s executive director for people, responded to the latest findings, saying: “Our ambition has always been to be consistently good across all areas.
"Despite the impact of the pandemic and local government reorganisation, we are pleased that Ofsted recognised that significant progress has been made towards that aim since our last inspection, and that this has had a real impact for children and young people.
"In particular, Ofsted’s acknowledgement of the strength of work with children in care and care leavers was welcome.
“It is also reassuring that the areas Ofsted highlight where more work is needed are consistent with our own self-evaluation carried out ahead of inspection.
“Ofsted acknowledge that we have clear plans in place to further develop and improve services and we are fully focused on implementing these.
"We know that despite all the hard work to date there is still more to do to ensure consistency in the quality and impact of our work.”
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