Improvements at Herefordshire Council's children's services 'too slow'

Darryl Freeman, the council's director of children's services, said inspectors' latest verdict was fair

Improvements at a council's struggling children's services are "too slow", Ofsted inspectors have said.

Herefordshire Council's provision was last year deemed inadequate and found to be failing to protect children in its care.

A follow-up inspection has since found key objectives in an improvement plan have been delayed or are not on track.

The council said it accepted there were "too many areas" where improvement was not fast or consistent enough.

Inspectors published the findings after carrying out a third monitoring visit to review areas of concern on 26 and 27 September.

An inspection carried out in June, recognised the authority was "starting to improve" its children's services after failings were discovered in 2022.

Inspectors found the pace and impact of improvement was "too slow"

Since then, however, a letter sent to the authority from Ofsted suggested "only modest progress" for children in care had been achieved, with the quality of practice remaining inconsistent.

The "vast majority of children live in stable placements", with most children having made progress with their physical health and education, according to Ofsted.

But inspectors highlighted that children may experience too many changes of social worker.

The approach to some unaccompanied asylum-seeking children was also found not to be "equitable" or "inclusive".

Inspectors praised work with disabled children and stated this had improved, with most given placements that met their needs.

Darryl Freeman, the council's corporate director for Children and Young people, said the inspection was the third visit where "no safeguarding concerns" were raised, particularly around disabled children.

"We know this is an area where we face our hardest challenge and are grateful to the inspectors for their detailed and fair report," he said.

Council leader, Jonathan Lester, said the local authority remained "wholeheartedly committed" to the improvement plan and working with partners "to create a service which we can all be proud of".