Children's services 'transformed' after new rating

For the council "children are now a clear priority", the Ofsted report said

A council's children's services which last year was described as posing "significant harm", has shown improvement across the board, inspectors have said.

The services run by Sefton Council were rated "inadequate" by Ofsted back in early 2022, but the education watchdog's latest monitoring report gave it an overall rating of "good".

Ofsted inspectors said "children are now a clear priority for the wider council", and that staff have reported "a positive shift" in the culture of the department.

Sefton Council leader Marion Atkinson said securing the improved rating was "a proud moment", and that the services had "undergone a transformation".

The council described the report as "a significant turnaround"

Atkinson said the council had "worked tirelessly to build a children's services in Sefton that our families, children and young people deserve".

She said the Ofsted rating confirms that "our children are now safer, better supported and more empowered".

Last year Ofsted carried out two monitoring visits which identified "widespread failures" in the department.

It described the inspection as "bleak" with highly vulnerable children being left at risk of serious harm.

"This report marks a significant turnaround from the previous rating," said Atkinson.

Despite the improvement, Ofsted highlighted the need for improvement in areas like the use of multi-agency information when responding to safeguarding concerns and the quality of record-keeping.