Ofsted finds 'solid progress' at inadequate council
Neil Puffett
Thursday, April 6, 2017
A council where children's services were rated "inadequate" by Ofsted last year is making steady progress in improving the quality of services, Ofsted has said.
Wandsworth's children's services department was rated inadequate in February 2016 after a "serious decline" in leadership, management and governance culminated in "unsafe" practice for many vulnerable children.
But the third quarterly monitoring visit conducted by Ofsted since then found that most children are now safer as a result of effective identification of risks and timely action by managers.
"Based on the evidence gathered during the visit, social work practice is becoming stronger, leading to better outcomes for most children," a letter outlining the findings of the visit states.
"Social workers spoken to by inspectors know children well. They see them regularly and carry out imaginative child-centred direct work that is informing decisions and plans."
The letter adds that management direction and oversight of practice, including that by senior managers, is becoming more established.
"Supervision records seen in the children in need and looked after teams are comprehensive, with evidence of management reflection and clear actions and expectations that are reviewed at the next session," the letter states.
However, the inspectors said the local authority is fully aware, as a result of extensive audit activity and reviews, that social work practice is not yet consistently good enough across all services.
"There are still some aspects of ineffective work, for example insufficient information sharing and management oversight of some children looked after who go missing or are at high risk of sexual exploitation," the letter states.
"While the pace of change is steady, the local authority accepts that, in some areas, social work practice is not reliably good enough and it is taking decisive action to address these deficits."
