Behind the Inspection Rating: Family court service builds bridges

Transforming a service from inadequate to good in the space of a single inspection is no mean feat. Yet for Steve Hunt, head of service for Cafcass Kent and Medway, this was always the goal.

Hunt joined the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) 14 months ago after a 10-year stint inspecting Cafcass services for Ofsted. In fact, he was the inspector who deemed the service inadequate. “Kent was always a curiosity to me,” he says.

“I just couldn’t understand why they couldn’t get it right.”

So when he decided to stop inspecting and get back into the fray he opted to try to fix Kent. “I was determined that we were not just going to get adequate, but –fingers crossed – get good,” he says.

Despite his previous life as an inspector, the reality was a shock.

“I was taken aback by what I walked into because the criticism against Cafcass from the stakeholders out there was extraordinary,” he recalls. “The local authority, the courts, the local safeguarding children board – everybody was laughing at Cafcass. I hadn’t really anticipated that. I remember thinking ‘I’ve had enough of this – you’re not going to be laughing at my organisation, we are going to sort this out’.”

Robust action
And sort it out they did. Ofsted’s latest inspection praised the “robust action” that had lifted the service from inadequate to good. Hunt says it is all down to “building bridges, mendi