Peterborough children's services 'good' after improvements

The city council's children's services have been rated as good by inspectors

Children's social care services in Peterborough have been rated good by inspectors who three years ago told the city council they needed to improve.

Following an inspection in June, Ofsted said services were now "good and have improved significantly" since 2015.

The report said "a stable, effective senior leadership team has driven improvement at pace" since a series of measures were agreed in 2017.

The council said it was "pleased" the changes it made had been recognised.

In 2011, the services were rated as poor by Ofsted, but by 2013 had made improvements and were rated as adequate.

'Key strengths'

An inspection in 2015 concluded while there were "no widespread or serious failures... the authority is not yet delivering good care" for looked-after children and young people and said the services "require improvement to be good".

The department was assessed again by Ofsted earlier this summer and the rating given to the council's children's social care services is now good in all categories checked, including "overall effectiveness".

Inspectors praised the "strong learning culture" within the organisation and said "the participation of, and direct work with, children and families are key strengths".

However, the report said improvements could still be made in some areas including assessing children at risk from sexual exploitation.

Wendi Ogle-Welbourn, executive director for people and communities at the city council, said: "Over the last three years there have been rapid changes and sustained improvements made within the department and we are pleased these have been recognised by Ofsted inspectors."