Special report: How far can a stretched sector bend before it breaks?
Ofsted's annual report reveals an improvement in children's services, but Yvette Stanley, Ofsted’s National Director for Social Care, asks how far can an already stretched sector bend before it breaks?
The proportion of local authorities judged as inadequate has decreased considerably, from 22% to 12%, the annual Ofsted review has revealed.
The overall effectiveness of local [...]
£16.6m funding announced for domestic abuse projects
The government has announced more than £16m funding for 75 projects across England to tackle domestic abuse.
The £16.6m of funding will enable local authorities to provide support and safe housing for victims of domestic abuse, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick confirmed. The funding will enable survivors and their children to stay safe, recover from the [...]
Workloads increase at Wigan
Workloads in social work teams at Wigan have significantly increased as a result of a strategic review of thresholds, Ofsted has noted.
The local authority did not plan ahead effectively to meet these demands and this resulted in high levels of unallocated cases over the course of three months.
Extra resources have now been put [...]
Government crackdown on unregulated accommodation for children in care
The government has set out proposals which would ban the practice of placing under-16's in unregulated accommodation.
Proposals to stop children in care from being placed in inappropriate accommodation will be published as part of a consultation, in a bid to tackle growing concerns about the number of children left at risk of exploitation.
Education [...]
Pace of improvement at Knowlsey is slow
The pace of improvement at Knowsley has been slow and has not had a significant impact on the overall quality of practice, Ofsted has said.
A focused visit took place in October 2018, which inspected the quality of work in the multi-agency front door, and which found progress ‘has been sustained and built on’. While [...]
Variable quality of practice at Torbay
The senior leadership team has been strengthened at Torbay since the last monitoring inspection visit, Ofsted has said.
The appointment of additional interim senior staff and a decision to recruit a dedicated Torbay DCS as well as an independent commissioner are intended to drive the essential changes more quickly to protect and help children, said [...]
