Children's social care no longer needs oversight

Children's services in Middlesbrough no longer need to be overseen by a government commissioner

A council's child services department will no longer be subjected to additional scrutiny by the government after inspectors judged it to have improved.

Children's social care in Middlesbrough was rated "inadequate" by Ofsted in 2020, with inspectors finding "serious and widespread failures".

But a full inspection in May found it no longer needs to be overseen by a government commissioner.

Mayor Chris Cooke said it was a "massive endorsement of the progress" which had been made.

The 2020 inspection found children were being left for too long in harmful situations with risks not properly recognised.

But following the latest inspection, Janet Daby, Minister for Children and Families, said "evidence of improvement" meant she could revoke the additional scrutiny of the department.

Mayor Chris Cooke said the report was a "massive endorsement"

Ofsted also carried out a "focused visit" to Middlesbrough's children's services on 31 July and 1 August where inspectors looked at arrangements for care leavers.

It found processes had been "strengthened" but had yet to lead to "consistent improvements in front-line management, supervision and training".

Joe Tynan, executive director for children's services at the council, described the improved inspection results as "really positive".

"The service has been on a long journey, our work has been heavily scrutinised and to be taken out of intervention is a big step forwards."