Improvement for council's children's services

A council's children's services department has been praised by Ofsted in its first inspection since returning in-house.

An independent trust ran Doncaster Council's children's services from 2014 until 2022 after the government ordered a takeover following a series of child protection failures.

Ofsted inspectors visited in January and found the now council-run service had significantly improved since 2022. It was rated as "Good".

The councillor responsible for young people and children's social care, Lani-Mae Ball, said it was "a testament to the dedication, passion and hard work of our teams and the relentless focus of our strong leadership".

In 2014 Doncaster Children's Services Trust was given a 10-year contract to run youth care in the city after a series of serious incidents.

In March 2009, the government ordered a takeover of Doncaster's children's services following the deaths of seven children from abuse or neglect over five years.

Less than a year later a serious case review found an attack in the nearby village of Edlington in which two young boys were tortured by two brothers, aged 11 and 12, had been "preventable".

In July 2013 the education secretary, Michael Gove, ruled that an independent trust would run the service.

The trust was was due to run services until 2024, but in 2022 the council took back control after an inspection found there had been a 'significant deterioration' of social care since its last Ofsted.

After the latest review inspectors described the scale of improvements as "impressive".

They found there was strong and well-established community-based services to support children at the earliest opportunity.

Inspectors concluded that children had good experiences of being in care, and said social workers made every effort to help wider family members and friends become carers so children could stay within their network when it was safe to do so.

However inspectors highlighted improvements were needed in the support given to young people when leaving the care system. They found while most got the support that they needed, it was not always recognised when some needed higher levels of support.

Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, said the "Good" rating was a significant achievement which proved that the decision to bring children's services back under council control was the right one.

She said: "This is just the beginning, we will continue to strive for excellence, ensuring our vulnerable children receive the support and care they deserve."

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