City council improving children’s outcomes in Stoke-on-Trent

City leaders have welcomed findings from an Ofsted focused visit that highlighted that the work of children’s services is making a positive difference and improving outcomes.

The Ofsted visit to Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s Children and Family Services, focusing on children in need or subject to a protection plan found that positive progress has been made and children’s outcomes are improved.

The inspection found that ‘services for children are a high priority’ and that ‘political support is strong’.

Ofsted highlighted that:

• Most children receive support and protection addressing risk and need
• Thresholds were applied correctly
• Most assessments and plans were timely and comprehensive and assessed risk well
• Services made a positive difference and improved children’s outcomes

There were areas for improvement identified by Ofsted.  These highlighted a small number of cases where there was not consistent management oversight or supervision. They also believed we could improve our quality assurance work, including ensuring that the audit of individual cases made more impact on practice.

Councillor Sarah Hill, cabinet member for children’s services said: “It’s great to see that Ofsted inspectors saw that children in the city are receiving support and protection and that our teams are making a positive difference and improving children’s outcomes.

“The outcomes of our last two inspections highlighted these as critical areas where we needed to improve to keep children safe so it’s really good to see that this improvement work has been successful.

“We are working incredibly hard to support children in the city and ensure that as many as possible have safe, secure and loving homes. We will, of course, always continue to strive to be even better.  We will be taking on board the feedback from Ofsted about areas where can improve further. Our ambition is for the whole service to be assessed as “good” when Ofsted return for a full inspection next year.”

The full report can be read at: https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50260334