West Sussex children's services make 'steady progress'

The latest Ofsted report said progress was being made by the council

West Sussex County Council is making "steady progress" in improving its children's services, Ofsted has reported.

Inspectors carried out a monitoring visit in September, the third since May 2019.

In December plans to remove children's services from the authority were put on hold for a year after improvements were made.

Ofsted had previously said West Sussex was "failing vulnerable children".

In May 2019 the watchdog highlighted the high turnover of social workers and the impact their high workload had on how often they were able to see the children they were assigned.

In the latest report published on Tuesday, inspectors said progress was being made, although some continuing problems were raised.

'Inconsistent'

"While the quality and effectiveness of assessments, plans and supervision is improving, it remains too variable", the report said.

"The impact of social work support that children receive is inconsistent, and for a small number of children this continues to be ineffective".

Jacquie Russell, cabinet member for children and young people, said: "The report identifies areas where we need to do further work to improve the quality and consistency of our practice.

"These areas are being addressed as part of our development plan and our ongoing improvement journey".

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