Rise in inadequate ratings due to higher expectations

24 November 2009 1 min read Lauren Higgs Social Care

The proportion of inadequate children's services has increased because Ofsted has raised its expectations, not because councils have deteriorated, according to the watchdog's chief inspector.

Nine local authorities were rated inadequate this year, as opposed to four last year, according to Ofsted's annual report.

Christine Gilbert said while most local authorities were providing good services to protect vulnerable children, "there are still too many that are inadequate in this vital respect". But she admitted new inspections, which were introduced this year, looked at services in "a much more robust way", making it hard to compare ratings from this year and last as "like for like".

Almost 70 per cent of local authority children's services were found to be good or outstanding, but 26 per cent were rated adequate and six per cent were inadequate.

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