Ofsted calls for action over council's care leaver accommodation crisis
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, November 1, 2023
A lack of housing for care leavers in Devon is forcing “too many” to live in hotels and other unsuitable accommodation, Ofsted has warned.
Following their sixth visit to Devon County Council, since it was rated "inadequate" at its last full inspection in 2020, inspectors warned “there is still insufficient accommodation to meet the varied needs of Devon’s care leavers”.
They warn that “without a concerted, corporate approach” this situation “is unlikely to improve”.
“Too many care leavers live in hotels and other unsuitable accommodation, often moving several times before they are found more suitable places to live,” the council is warned in an inspection letter following the visit last month.
“In the interim, they are very vulnerable. Without the stability of a safe home, these care leavers make limited progress in other areas of their life.”
While care leavers' personal advisors “respond to these crises with urgency”, inspectors warn that this support is hindered by a lack of updated assessments and planning.
Inspectors also found that care leavers do not have “routine and easy access” to their health records.
“This has a particular impact on those young people who move several times and who suffer traumatic experiences or issues with their mental health,” they warned.
Another concern raised is that the number of care leavers not in education, employment or training is 10 per cent higher than the national average, which “diminishes life chances for these young people”, warned Ofsted.
The most vulnerable care leavers, including those with disabilities are among the hardest hit as their “education is often sacrificed too readily in favour of a focus on prevailing medical or accommodation concerns”.
Inspectors are also concerned that partnership working with “the wider Devon community” to improve support for care leavers “has been slow”.
Despite the concerns, inspectors found that the council's leaders “now more fully understood” the challenges facing care leavers in Devon and welcomed “plans in place to remedy the situation”.
Improvements to involve young people in decision making are also noted.
In January, Devon County Council announced plans to boost children’s services spending by just under a fifth amid concerns around support for children in the county.
In rating the council’s children’s services as “inadequate” three years ago Ofsted found “serious failures" in the services provided to children and young people in Devon.
Also, a monitoring visit last year warned that “the pace of change remains slow”.
Devon County Council cabinet member for children's services Andrew Leadbetter, said: “I am pleased that inspectors are beginning to see areas of good practice and some significant improvement.
"However, it is clear that we still have a long way to go together on our improvement journey and we must continue to work hard to start to see improvement in outcomes for our young people, but it is good to see that we are on the right track.”
Meanwhile, Ofsted continues to be concerned about the pace of improvement at Herefordshire County Council’s children’s services, which were rated “inadequate” in July 2022.
Following their visit in September, inspectors have warned that “the pace and impact of improvement are too slow”.
Herefordshire’s corporate director for children and young people Darryl Freeman said the council accepts “there are too many areas where improvement is still not fast or consistent enough and the overall picture is not yet what we would want”.
After a visit in June this year, inspectors had raised concerns that a “high turnover of social workers” is delaying efforts to improve children’s services in Herefordshire.
