A recent focused visit by Ofsted has highlighted positive improvements in Herefordshire Council’s Children’s Services provision.

Ofsted inspectors carried out the planned visit on January 22nd. During the inspection they reviewed the council’s arrangements for receiving referrals about children who may be in need or at risk of significant harm, children transferring to and from early help services, the effectiveness of child protection enquiries and quality of assessments and interventions for children in need of help and protection.

Inspectors looked at a wide range of evidence relating to the council’s children’s services. Most of the visit was spent talking directly to social workers and reviewing cases.

The feedback from the visit highlighted a significant number of improvements in services, including:

· Increased stability and effectiveness of the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub

· More support for families to help them access early help

· Discussions focusing on children at risk are timely and well attended by key professionals

· Families are supported on a range of issues, such as housing, finance and access to mental health services

· Action by senior leaders has improved the overall stability of the social care workforce

· Social workers have seen a reduction in caseloads and this is now allowing teams to focus on timeliness and quality

· Continued improvement in performance management and quality assurance approaches

Councillor Elissa Swinglehurst, Cabinet Member for Children and Families said: “The feedback from this latest Ofsted visit is positive and reflects the decisions and actions that were taken both prior and subsequent to the visit by Ofsted in June 2018.

“We will now take time to reflect on Ofsted’s comments and use them to continue to improve the support services that we offer Herefordshire’s children and young people.”

Chris Baird, Director for Children and Families added: “We are really pleased that Ofsted has recognised that we have improved. This is testament to the hard work, dedication and commitment of our social workers, support workers, managers, and wider council services. We are fully aware that there are still areas where there is more to do.”

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