Council moves out of 'inadequate' following Ofsted inspection

Although children's services at Leicester City Council still "requires improvement", inspectors praised efforts to address a raft of problems highlighted during its last inspection in 2015. This included a social worker exodus, delays in allocating cases and poor oversight of work.

An overhaul of performance management and quality assurance systems has been a particular success. This has improved both the quality of information available about children and the accountability of leaders and managers.

The working environment for social workers, including their relationship with senior managers, has also improved markedly and led to inspectors rating leadership, management and governance, in addition to adoption support, as "good".

Action has also been taken to successfully reduce a reliance on agency staff and to recruit permanent social workers, both newly qualified and experienced practitioners.

"Services for children have improved significantly since the last inspection in 2015, which judged them overall to be inadequate," states Ofsted in its inspection report following their visit in June and July.

"Senior leaders and managers took decisive action following this inspection and have remained clearly focused on securing the necessary improvements. While more work is needed before services are consistently good, sustained progress has been achieved.

"One of the main foundations of this progress is the effective use of quality assurance and performance management information, which enables managers to understand what they need to do to keep children safe and how to better manage identified risks.

"In parallel with this is a radical transformation of culture, whereby staff feel safe working in an open and transparent environment, reporting that leaders manage change well."

Leicester children's services is also working better with partners, with inspectors highlighting an "effective" joint protocol with the council's housing department to support homeless 16- and 17-year-olds. The service's involvement in area-wide efforts to tackle child sexual exploitation was another area praised.

Despite the improvements, inspectors want to see more regular updates in assessments, to better take into account family history.