Agenda item

To consider a report which provides an update on progress made against the Children’s Services Improvement Plan.

Councillor G Hayes left the room during consideration of this item and did not return.

The committee received a report which provided an update on the progress of the Children’s Services Improvement Plan.

The report addressed the findings from both the Ofsted inspection in February and March 2024, and the Councillor visits to frontline services which took place in November 2025.

The findings of the third Ofsted monitoring visit on cared for children and permanence were published on 13 November 2025.

The following matters were highlighted:

• A revised and more robust quality of practice framework, which incorporated updated practice standards, had almost been completed.
• A wide-scale Restorative Practice Development programme, with sessions beginning in February 2026, which reached across the whole department and was extended to partners had recently been commissioned.
• A Housing Charter for Care Experienced Young People aged 16-25 was launched.
• Training for designated teachers new to their role had been devised.
• A refreshed and more active recruitment campaign had been launched.
• Feedback from the third Ofsted monitoring visit in October 2025 indicated that the Senior Managers were sharply focused on improving practice and the feedback also demonstrated a range of positives in social work practice.  However, it had been recognised that there was still work to do, with consistency of practice being a key focus.
• 57% of the Improvement Plan was complete; there were currently 36 amber E actions showing on the Plan.
• Officers were currently refreshing the plan to include new learning and findings since the inspection. Amber E actions would be scrutinised by the audit framework.
• Regarding performance measures in red, reference was made to the timeliness of visiting children following referrals; the timeliness of strategy discussions and convening of initial child protection conferences all still required improvement.
• The updated Improvement Plan would align to the Workforce Strategy and quality of assurance; it was important to ensure that resources were available to staff going forward.

Members asked questions and made comments in respect of:

• Red ratings for the number of children in unregistered placements and those linked to Police Protection Orders (PPOs)/ Police Powers and related legal/judicial matters.
• Positive feedback arising from Councillor frontline visits.
• Support groups for Kinship Carers, similar to SEND forums.
• Staffing matters and potential addition of this to the work programme.
• Reference to a previous Staffing Committee that looked at issues such as sickness, absence and reasons for leaving.  It was queried whether a report detailing these issues could be provided to this committee.
• Relationships with health partners and how these could be developed.
• The importance of forensic audit work in understanding where the fundamental issues were.
• Looking at other local authorities to identify areas of best practice and benchmarking opportunities.
• Quality assurance in relation to a recent Councillor frontline visit, which had been both interesting and robust.  It was highlighted that the teams were fully cooperative and wished to grow and develop through feedback.

In response, officers reported that:

• In terms of unregistered placements, the aim was to not have these at all, but sufficiency was such that there were no other available options at times.  The preference was to keep children with their families and move away from emergency placements, but whether this could be fully realised remained to be seen.  Many local authorities experienced similar issues with unregistered providers; it was children with the highest levels of need that were the most difficult to place.  These time-limited placements were very closely monitored.
• Regarding PPOs, it was explained that situations had arisen where children were unknown to social care and police had taken the decision to take out a PPO.  As social work evolved, there was a need to ensure that Early Help teams were reaching families that required that support.  Partnership working as a collective needed to be appropriately targeted; the statistics would be monitored over the coming years.
• Officers were working to improve timeliness around Public Law Outline (PLO), but the initial focus was on quality.  It was about ensuring practice was fit for purpose and working in a way to keep children at home.  Officers had put increased governance and other processes in place and started to reduce timescales, but quality was the primary focus.
• Regarding support groups for kinship carers, these had been offered previously, but there had been challenges around attendance as not everyone wished to be involved.  Other support mechanisms had been established to nurture relationships, which continued to be looked at.
• In terms of staffing, it was indicated that it was not always about quantity, but about quality; it was about how best to support and develop the staff the Council already had that helped them to fulfil their duties.
• The Chair advised that in relation to staffing, further consideration would be given towards reporting methods / a potential briefing to ensure that all committee members were fully informed about staff-related issues.
• The Chair advised that regular meetings were taking place with Health partners and it was acknowledged that issues continued to present, but it was important that positive working relationships were maintained.
• In terms of scrutiny and external scrutiny, for assurance, it was explained that monthly improvement and impact board meetings, which the DfE chaired, were carried out.  In addition to this, sector-led improvement partner support; regular Ofsted monitoring and monthly meetings; Cheshire East Assurance Board; and Cheshire East Safeguarding Partnership work was also being undertaken.  There was a lot of scrutiny of Children’s Services in terms of improvement work being completed both locally and nationally.

RESOLVED:

That the Children and Families Committee

1. Note the progress against the improvement plan.
2. Note the findings from the Councillor visits to the fostering service and residential service in November 2025.
3. Note the findings from the third Ofsted monitoring visit on cared for children, planning and achieving permanence.