Work to improve Plymouth City Council’s services for children and young people has been recognised by Ofsted. The most recent inspection report saw an overall rating of ‘requires improvement’ awarded. Inspectors said that there had been 'significant' improvements since an Ofsted Focused Visit to the ‘front door’ in December 2022, particularly praising the work of the new Director of Children’s Services, David Haley, and the work that has taken place to improve and transform the service. The report, which followed a two-week on-site inspection in January 2024, was the first full inspection of Children’s Services since 2018 and focused on the effectiveness of the department to support: Inspectors recognised the work taking place to ensure that children and young people get the support they need to help them stay safe and that social workers work hard to support children to enable them to stay living with their parents. Children and young people who are in care live with people who care about them and who work hard to do their best for them, and when they are ready to leave care, the right support is in place. The inspectors particularly praised the fact that leaders understand the strengths and weaknesses of their service and have a realistic plan in place to address the areas of improvement. Cllr Jemima Laing, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said: “I am pleased that Ofsted has recognised the huge progress we have made, particularly over the last year. This is testament to the determination and hard work of all of our staff across Children’s Services. We have been relentless in our approach to put children first and drive sustained improvement within our services. “It is clear there is still work to do so that all our children and young people receive a consistently good level of service. As recognised by Ofsted, we now have a robust improvement plan in place, as well as the focused and determined support of our committed staff to continue our improvement journey." “Children’s services is supporting more children and families and that is why has invested an additional £8 million in Children’s Services in the next financial year against a national context of no additional Government funding. We have recently launched a new national social worker recruitment campaign to increase our permanent social workforce and have recently welcomed 12 International Social Workers to join us” “Despite these challenges we have a relentless focus on driving forward our improvement to ensure that children, young people and their families see a demonstrable change in the service we provide.” The report identified that improvements are needed in some areas, including: David Haley, Director of Children’s Services, added: “I am pleased that Ofsted has recognised the improvements that have been made, particularly at the ‘front door’ to services and have fed back that we know ourselves well and have well made plans in place to address all the recommendations they have made. “I am proud of what the staff have achieved across the Council and thank them for their hard work and commitment to help and support children and families across the city. We are determined that our services continue get better and better because that is what the city’s children need and deserve." and we want you to join us. Once you sign up for our updates, we'll send the latest
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