Staffordshire County Council's children's services told to improve

Staffordshire County Council said it was currently supporting 5,042 children, of which 1,345 were in care

Services for vulnerable children, their families and care leavers need to improve in Staffordshire, Ofsted inspectors have said.

An inspection at Staffordshire County Council found its children's services "required improvement to be good".

While some areas had improved, inspectors say quality assurance and performance management are "not robust enough".

A council spokesperson said protecting vulnerable young people was a priority.

Inspectors' findings were published after an inspection at the local authority, between 6 to 10 November 2023.

Ofsted carried out an inspection of children's services at the local authority in November 2023

"Since the last inspection, the quality of services to children in care has been sustained," inspectors said.

"While the quality of some help and protection services has improved, there has also been some deterioration and overall they continue to require improvement."

The impact of leaders, the experiences and progress of care leavers and of children who need protection were each graded as "requires improvement to be good."

Inspectors also found quality assurance and performance management were "not robust enough" to successfully improve service quality.

But the report also praised the general experiences and progress of children in care, rating it as "good."

'Very disappointing'

Staffordshire County Council currently supports 5,042 children, of which 1,345 are in care.

A spokesperson added its leaders were committed to improving it's children's services.

The services had been rated as "good" for the past decade, so the result of the recent inspection was "very disappointing", councillor Mark Sutton said.

The authority is committed to "putting this right as quickly as possible" and a number of measures to "boost oversight, increase support and reduce workloads" will be put in place, he added.

"We know that there are things we need to improve, but the report also recognises that there are many things that we are doing well to help some of the most vulnerable children and young people in Staffordshire," Mr Sutton added.