Ofsted praises children's social care services in Wolverhampton with 'aspirational plans' for improvement

Ofsted carried out a focused inspection of Wolverhampton Council's Children's Social Care Services on October 2 and 3. 

Inspectors Gareth Dakin and Sophie Wales found there to be a "strong recognition and consideration" around the needs of youngsters and their families and noted "aspirational plans" to improve services.

In the report, it was said areas of improvement identified at the previous inspection in 2022, where services were concluded to be 'Good', have been "advanced".

It was also found that youngsters are "seen regularly" by practitioners who show "patience, kindness and understanding".

Inspectors praised the work of a new Family Help Service, which is formed of eight community-based family hubs to "target early help and child-in-need social work".

It was found that "most" children who are homeless receive a "timely and proportionate response" and when youngsters go missing, "skilled" practitioners respond in a "considered" way. 

The council was however told to improve the "quality and consistency of supervision".

Ofsted found that supervision is held regularly for "most practitioners", which is recorded on children's files.

It was however said records of supervision "do not consistently provide sufficient reflection, direction or challenge".

Councillor Jacqui Coogan, Wolverhampton Council’s cabinet member for children, young people and education, said: "I am very proud of the fantastic work that our practitioners do, day in, day out, for vulnerable children, young people and families, and this brilliant report recognises this.

"It is great that we had the opportunity to showcase our good practice through the focused inspection, and that Ofsted has confirmed that we are continuing to make excellent progress as we transform children's social care services here in Wolverhampton."

Ofsted said it will consider the findings from the focused inspection when it is planning future inspections or visits.

Alison Hinds, director of Children's Services, added: "This is such a positive, reassuring report regarding our strong child focussed practice in the midst of what is a massive change programme in children's social care, and I would like to thank everyone who was involved in the inspection in any way."