Children and Family Services at Hull City Council have been praised after a recent focused visit by the regulator Ofsted.
When a full Ofsted inspection took place in November 2022, the council was graded as ‘requires improvement to be good’.
As part of this rating, the local authority receives up to two focused visits in between inspections.
This was the council’s first focused visit since its inspection.
The subject of the visit was ‘children in need and children in need of protection’.
Ofsted found there had been effective and focused action by senior leaders, elected members and partners to improve services for vulnerable children in Hull.
Some of the areas of strength Ofsted highlighted include:
- Leaders know their services well and continue to be committed to making improvements.
- Children benefit from social workers who know them well and with whom they have developed positive relationships.
- Leaders have focused on the recruitment and retention of social workers. A lot of this is thanks to a ‘grow your own’ route into social work, which includes apprenticeships.
- Staff spoke positively about the culture in the council. They spoke of feeling valued, with the right conditions for them to practice.
- Stable staffing has meant that social workers have more time dedicated to supporting individual families.
Inspectors said one area the council could improve was to better enhance contingency planning in children in need and child protection plans. The council recognises this and has already taken action to improve in this area.
Councillor Linda Tock, the portfolio holder for Children’s Services at Hull City Council, said: “This marks another positive milestone in our Children’s Services improvement journey.
“This is testament to all our staff and partners who work hard to support children every day in Hull. Children in our city remain, as always, the council’s greatest priority.”
Read the full Ofsted report by clicking here.
