West Sussex children's services 'substantially improved', Ofsted says

Most children in West Sussex County Council's care make good progress, Ofsted says

Children's services in West Sussex have "substantially improved" since being rated inadequate in 2019, Ofsted says.

"Corporate and political systemic weaknesses have been addressed," the watchdog said.

It rated the leadership and experiences of children care as good, but overall the service required improvement.

Jacquie Russell, cabinet member for children and young people, said: "Ofsted has recognised the huge progress we have made."

In 2019 Ofsted inspectors reported West Sussex County Council (WSCC) children's services had "widespread and serious weaknesses".

When Ofsted carried out its inspection in March, it found the "vast majority" of children in the council's care made good progress. However for a small number of children the decision to bring them into care was "not taken quickly enough".

'Inconsistencies'

Inspectors noted: "A relentless and incremental approach to improving practice has led to significant progress in some areas, such as the safeguarding and planning for unborn children, achieving permanence for children, and the effectiveness of quality assurance.

"There remain inconsistencies in children's experiences, particularly in the assessment and intervention teams and family safeguarding service. In part, this is due to turbulence in the system following the implementation of whole-scale service change in 2022."

Ofsted also blamed recent high caseloads for social workers and high staff turnover, although inspectors recognised that due to a "successful recent recruitment drive, caseloads are beginning to fall."

Inspectors found practice within the Children with Disabilities section was "variable", with highly imaginative work being done with children in care, although some plans were too narrowly focussed and did not consider the wider needs of adults or children in the family.

Ms Russell said: "The outcome of this inspection is testament to the determination and hard work of all our staff across children's services and the county council.

"We have been relentless in our approach to put children first and drive sustained improvement within our services.

"We know we have more work to do so all our children and young people receive a good level of service."

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