Ofsted rate Shropshire Council’s children’s services as ‘good’
Children’s services provided by Shropshire Council have been rated as ‘good’ overall by Government inspectors Ofsted.
The rating follows a four-week inspection in September and October this year. The inspection looked at services for children in need of help and protection, looked-after children, and care leavers.
The ‘good’ rating is an improvement from the ‘adequate’ rating that was awarded following the last Ofsted inspection in November 2012.
Only 46 councils are currently rated as ‘good’ for their children’s services, and only three have achieved the top rating of ‘outstanding’. This means that Shropshire Council’s children’s services are now in the top 30% nationally.
The inspectors’ report gives particular praise to the council’s work to keep children safe, its fostering and adoption services and its work to tackle child sexual exploitation.
Nick Bardsley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for children’s services and education, said:
“This is an enormous achievement. I’m delighted and proud of what our staff do every day to protect children, often in extremely difficult circumstances. I’d like to say a very big thank you to them.
“We can’t afford to be complacent. There are areas where things could be better. We want to be outstanding and, at the next inspection, I have every confidence that we will be.
“In the meantime I think our staff and the council can be very proud of what has been achieved and celebrate a great success.”
Karen Bradshaw, director of children’s services, said:
“This report is fantastic news and is recognition of the hard work and dedication of all the staff working in children’s services across Shropshire Council. I want to thank them all.
“All of our staff care deeply about the children in our care and have been working hard for a number of years to improve our services. It’s brilliant that Ofsted has publically acknowledged this work.
“Our priority is to ensure that our children are safe, and that we provide the highest quality of support and care. The report acknowledges this.
“We are also pleased that our work with other agencies was recognised as positive, and contributes to the good outcomes for children.”
Meanwhile, Ofsted has also carried out a review of the effectiveness of the Shropshire Safeguarding Children’s Board (SSCB) – a multi-agency body that works to keep Shropshire’s children’s safe. Inspectors have rated the SSCB as ‘good’ in a report also published today (24 November 2017).
Ivan Powell, independent Chairman of the SSCB, said:
“This has been a thorough inspection of both the services that the council provides and of the work of Shropshire Safeguarding Children’s Board.
“Being judged as good is testament to the high standards of professionalism and commitment from all of the partner agencies on the Board.
“Whilst we are rightly taking pride in Ofsted’s judgement we are also not complacent about the ongoing challenges we face, including changes we will be making as a consequence of the Children and Social Work Act 2017.
“I am confident that we are starting from a position of strength and that the board will continue to make real differences to the welfare and safety of children across Shropshire.”
