Coventry children's services rated "good" for first time in eight years
Most vulnerable kids in the city get the right levels of support at the right time, according to an Ofsted report published today (12 August).
It comes a decade after Coventry boy Daniel Pelka was tortured and killed by his mum and stepdad – bringing the city’s children’s services and related professionals into national scrutiny.
The 4-year-old suffered horrendous abuse for months before his death but was “invisible” to social workers, teachers and police, a report found.
In 2014 inspectors judged the council’s Children’s Services inadequate with social workers’ caseloads too high.
The rating sparked a cash injection into the council department with now leader Cllr George Duggins, then Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, promising a “rapid improvement in services.”
An Ofsted visit in 2017 saw the service upgraded to requires improvement.
Inspectors praised the focus of leaders but other elements came in for criticism including, staff turnover and fostering placements outside the city.
Today, following an intensive three-week inspection in June, Ofsted rated the service ‘good’.
“Most children, throughout the service, are receiving the right level of support at the right time,” the reports’ authors said.
Leaders know the service well and quality assurance is “robust.”
Social workers are committed to children, senior leaders drive improvement and partnerships between agencies are strong.
There is also a “strong political commitment to children’s services from across the whole council.”
Investment has funded multi-agency early help hubs, increased family group conference services, and specialist teams for carers and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
“The voice of the child is important in Coventry, and there is a strong participation offer that ensures that children’s voices are heard and listened to at all levels of the local authority,” authors concluded.
Fostering arrangements, wellbeing support for care leavers and supervision of social workers all need to improve, however.
The response to 16 and 17 year-olds who are homeless could also be better, as they currently “receive an inconsistent service” from the authority, the report said.
"It shows the incredible amount of hard work and care that has gone into improving Children’s Services in the city"
Cabinet Member for Children and Young People Cllr Pat Seaman said she was “delighted” with the report.
“It shows the incredible amount of hard work and care that has gone into improving Children’s Services in the city from our own incredibly dedicated staff through to the wide-ranging partners we work with,” she said.
“Everyone should be proud of the achievements and the progress made, but this is not the end of our journey.
“The children and families in Coventry deserve the very best and we will continue to strive to improve to achieve ‘outstanding’ next time.”
Director of Children’s Services John Gregg said achieving the rating has been “hard work” but tackled with “enthusiasm and dedication.”
He said; “This rating has only been made possible with the support of our amazing young people, their families and their carers and through our work with partners.
“We have worked as One Coventry to improve outcomes for the children and young people of the city and will continue to do so.
“We would like to thank all colleagues and partners for the work they have done over the course of our journey to ‘good.’
“It has been hard work but everyone has tackled it head on with such enthusiasm and dedication.
“The needs of the children and their families have driven everything we have done.”