Improved support for care leavers at 'inadequate' council earns Ofsted praise

A monitoring visit to Surrey County Council's children's services department by Ofsted, the sixth since services were rated inadequate in June 2015, found significant progress in improving the education, employment and training prospects for care leavers.

In September 2016 the proportion of care leavers in work, on a course or in training was 66 per cent, up from 40 per cent when the council was last inspected.

In a letter to Julie Fisher, the council's deputy chief executive and director of children's services, the inspection team also noted that "increasing numbers of care leavers are moving into higher education" and 11 are in apprenticeships.

During last month's visit, they also found that no leavers were living in bed and breakfast accommodation and the majority (93 per cent) are living in suitable accommodation.

A strong focus on "effectively" encouraging looked-after children in foster placements to stay with their carers after their 18th birthday, under the government's Staying Put initiative, was also praised. Inspectors found that there are currently 80 young people placed under these arrangements.

Another positive move has been a recruitment drive for additional personal advisers to support looked-after children. This group of professionals are described by inspectors as being "tenacious in building and maintaining relationships with young people", and are "committed to improving outcomes for them".

Other improvements include action to tackle child sexual exploitation (CSE), including the drafting of a new strategy and plan and ensuring risk assessments are carried out in the majority of cases.

The letter states: "Managers have been particularly effective in challenging the use of language by professionals that had previously suggested a lack of understanding of CSE."

However, inspectors remain concerned care leavers are still not being given enough information about their health records.

Other problems include supervision not always being reflective and a lack of "quality and timeliness" of return home interviews when children go missing.

Two other council children's services departments with inadequate ratings also received monitoring visits last month.

Inspectors found "significant progress" in supporting children at risk of harm and neglect at Leicester City Council, which was handed Ofsted's lowest rating in March 2015.

Meanwhile, Lancashire County Council's children's services department, which was handed an inadequate rating in November 2015, was found to have made some progress in auditing of cases and outcomes for children "due to the local authority's intervention". But Ofsted remains concerned that "the pace of change is not consistent across teams".