The council was placed under a notice of direction in 2016 after being rated “inadequate” by Ofsted with inspectors noting “serious, persistent and systemic failures” across children’s services.
“Important areas of children’s social care services in Reading have deteriorated since previous Ofsted inspections in 2012 and 2013, particularly services for children in need and services for children at risk of and experiencing significant harm,” inspectors found.
Following the damning findings, the Department for Education ordered a new company, Brighter Futures for Children (BFfC), to be set up to run the department.
A further inspection in 2019 uplifted Reading’s rating to “requires improvement to be good” with inspectors stating: “There has been evidence of improvement in most areas of practice since the last inspection.”
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