Lincolnshire commended for 'imaginative' safeguarding services
Joe Lepper
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Child protection workers at Lincolnshire County Council have been praised by Ofsted inspectors for their "proactive and imaginative" support for Traveller families and children with disabilities.
Following an unannounced visit last month of the children’s services contact, referral and assessment arrangements inspectors were impressed with the way social workers reacted to the diverse needs of children in the county.
They responded well to equality issues that were raised in their work and inspectors were also impressed with the use of latest research to assess children with disabilities.
Lincolnshire’s focus on monitoring and sharing information about performance issues with staff were also praised.
However, in areas marked out as needing further development, inspectors said more needs to be done to ensure case records properly reflect the role of unqualified staff so they are not working beyond their competency.
Medway and North Yorkshire councils also received favourable reports from Ofsted inspectors following unannounced visits in January.
North Yorkshire’s partnership with the Army Welfare Service to safeguard children in the high number of army families in the area meant problems were "identified promptly with high-quality responses".
In Medway inspectors were impressed by efforts to make caseloads more manageable and managers’ support of social workers.
They responded well to equality issues that were raised in their work and inspectors were also impressed with the use of latest research to assess children with disabilities.
Lincolnshire’s focus on monitoring and sharing information about performance issues with staff were also praised.
However, in areas marked out as needing further development, inspectors said more needs to be done to ensure case records properly reflect the role of unqualified staff so they are not working beyond their competency.
Medway and North Yorkshire councils also received favourable reports from Ofsted inspectors following unannounced visits in January.
North Yorkshire’s partnership with the Army Welfare Service to safeguard children in the high number of army families in the area meant problems were "identified promptly with high-quality responses".
In Medway inspectors were impressed by efforts to make caseloads more manageable and managers’ support of social workers.
