Children's services show improvement, Ofsted says

Children in Solihull are receiving better and more timely support from social workers, an Ofsted visit has concluded.

Solihull Council's children's services came under scrutiny after the murder of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes in 2020. An Ofsted inspection in 2022 deemed the service inadequate with widespread failings.

The local authority has since improved in areas such as managing safeguarding referrals and staff workloads, an Ofsted inspector said, following the latest monitoring visit.

In response, the council said it was "really pleased" with the findings which were the "the culmination of lots of hard work over the last 18 months as we have been on a robust improvement journey".

The council has had six monitoring visits since its inadequate rating, with a visit last year concluding that services for young people who had been in care had also improved.

Ofsted's letter to the council setting out its findings was published on Monday, following a visit that took place on 29 and 30 April.

Rebecca Quested, one of the inspectors, said there had been considerable progress with managing referrals to the service's safeguarding hub since the 2022 assessment.

She also said new arrangements, such as specialised workers based at family hubs and a recently-launched helpline, were helping some families receive early support.

Better leadership and lower workloads for social workers had boosted the service since 2022, so the response to children who need help and support was now timely and child-focused.

However, the council's support for young carers was one area that could still be improved, as assessments of such children often did not include information from other agencies.

Senior leaders had acknowledged a need for more co-ordination in this area and had a plan in place.

A commissioner was appointed in 2022 to help the council improve.

Arthur's step-mother was found guilty of murder and his father was found guilty of manslaughter in 2021.

Solihull Council welcomed the outcome of the sixth and final monitoring visit and said inspectors could see that "significant progress has been made to improve the operation of our 'front door' and in particular, how we work with partner agencies together as one team".

"We have also worked hard to give strong leadership and management support and lower workloads, which is enabling social work practice to improve and to provide a timely and focused response to children and families," it said.

"We look forward to welcoming Ofsted back for a full inspection later in the year."

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