Large rise in children's homes with top ratings
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
The number of children's homes to be judged "good" or better by Ofsted has risen by 13 percentage points over the past year.
Figures from the inspectorate show that 71 per cent of residential children's homes were given the grade of good or better for overall effectiveness, compared with just 58 per cent over the same period the previous year.
Of the 959 full inspections of children’s homes, residential special schools and secure children’s homes, visited between April and September this year, 112 (12 per cent) were graded as “outstanding” for their overall effectiveness, up five per cent on 2014, while 570 were judged as good (59 per cent).
The proportion of children’s homes judged as “requires improvement” fell from 30 to 23 per cent over the same period, while “inadequate” ratings halved from 12 to six per cent.
Ofsted notes that among the 813 homes that were inspected in the six-month period in both years, 29 per cent had improved while 17 per cent had declined.
The period covered in these latest figures coincides with the introduction on 1 April of new quality standards. Under these standards, homes have to show inspectors how they are supporting children to achieve positive outcomes and are expected to liaise with schools to help with homework.
Jonathan Stanley, chief executive of the Independent Children’s Homes Association (ICHA), said: “Indisputably these figures demonstrate residential childcare is a positive choice for children.
“A 13 per cent rise with nearly three quarters of homes, being good or better shows
the incredible hard work the sector has put in to implement the quality standards.
“These figures are a big motivator for providers to meet the challenges we still face, especially financially in the current famine of fees.”
The ICHA has called for greater clarity over the new quality standards to avoid confusion and local variation of how they are interpreted by inspectors.
Ofsted’s latest statistical report also looks at inspections of council children’s services under its single inspection framework, which was introduced in November 2013 and covers child protection as well as support for looked-after children and care leavers.
Between November 2013 and November 2015 a quarter of councils (19 out of 74) were judged to be inadequate in terms of overall effectiveness under this framework. None were judged to be outstanding and 17 were judged to be good.
Last month, Ofsted published advice for councils on what factors contribute to a children’s services department being rated inadequate.