Children's services improve, Ofsted finds

Services have improved for young people in Solihull who have lived in care, watchdog Ofsted has said.

A monitoring visit to Solihull Council's children's services took place last month - the fifth one since the authority was judged inadequate in November 2022.

Ofsted said personal advisers (PAs) developed trusting relationships to prepare those in care for adulthood, but it added most PAs' workloads were too high.

Solihull Council said Ofsted's findings reflected the hard work of staff to improve services.

Ofsted said inspectors reviewed progress made in areas of concern identified at the last inspection, in relation to care experienced young people aged 18 to 25.

These included the quality and suitability of accommodation, employment, education and training and support into adulthood.

Last month, Sir Alan Wood, who was appointed as a commissioner to help the council improve its children's social care after a six-year-old boy's murder, said he was confident the borough's children were safer now.

The authority came under intense scrutiny following the high-profile killing, which happened in Shirley in 2020.

Sir Alan also said there was a "sense of denial" when he first arrived.

An Ofsted letter, from His Majesty's Inspector Rebecca Quested, was released on Thursday about the visit to children's services on 15 and 16 October.

It stated a "revised strategy and improved local offer" showed "ambition and aspiration" for young people who had lived in care.

Support for them to engage with education, employment and training opportunities had "developed greatly".

PAs supported such people to live where their needs were met, which represented "considerable progress".

The letter said partnership working had led to improvements, including better "joint working with the housing department" to prevent homelessness.

Advisers were aware of potential indicators of exploitation, Ofsted said.

But it added most PAs' workloads were too high, which was affecting "the quality of practice and case recording".

The council said inspectors recognised the "positive impact of our ongoing improvement programme and identified many areas of strength".

A spokesperson said that reflected the hard work of staff to deliver "high-quality services for our care leavers".

They added: "The report highlighted the need for us to recruit additional PAs to support continued improvement.

"We are pleased to confirm that, since the inspectors' visit, we have successfully done so."

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