Finally! After years of under performance, Northamptonshire children’s services rated good
Northamptonshire’s children’s services have been rated as good by government inspectors
By Sarah Ward
Northamptonshire’s children’s services have been rated as good by government inspectors.
In a report published this morning, Ofsted, has rated the service as having outstanding leadership and good in how it protects and cares for children.
Inspectors found the service, which is run by an independent trust outside of local authority management, had ‘significantly improved’ since the last inspection four years ago.
The report said:
“Senior leaders across North Northamptonshire Council and NCT [Northamptonshire Children’s Trust] have committed financial investment and driven and embedded substantial improvements in services for children and families.
“Outstanding leadership has had a transformational impact on workforce stability and has developed a relational culture that has resulted in significantly improved circumstances for children and families.
“Mature and highly effective relationships across both councils, NCT and safeguarding partners are keeping children safer and helping them make positive progress.”
The new family hubs which operate in a number of towns across the county were praised and it said that the multi agency safeguarding hub (MASH) which receives initial concerns about children, timely and effective responses were made. This is in stark contrast to previous times, when the MASH had come under severe criticism.
The out of hours emergency duty team was judged to be effective and social work assessments were praised for clearly outlining children’s needs.
It said most children under child protection plans benefit from multidiciplinary interventions, which were ‘purposeful’.
It said since the last inspection there had been significant improvement in the response to children who go missing from care, with a new team set up and a child exploitation hub, praised.
Inspectors found unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are well supported by knowledgeable social workers.
Areas highlighted for improvement include better support plans for children in need and disabled children and better communication of the local offer for care leavers.
Colin Foster, chief executive of Northamptonshire Children’s Trust, said:
“This is a fantastic achievement and recognition of the enormous progress made by colleagues and partners over recent years.
“To achieve a Good judgement, with Outstanding leadership, reflects the dedication and commitment of everyone working to improve the lives of children and families across Northamptonshire. We are particularly pleased that Ofsted recognised the strength of relationships between our workforce and the children they support.
“Our practitioners work hard to build trusted, enduring relationships through consistency, honesty and compassion, and it is encouraging that children themselves spoke positively about the support they receive and the ambition workers have for their futures. While we are proud of this outcome, we remain committed to continuous improvement and will continue working with our partners to ensure every child and young person has the opportunity to thrive.”
The leadership was rated as outstanding, with praise given to how it works with the political leadership and it praised ‘seamless’ working between Reform UK run West and North authorities.
The North unitary has this week appointed acting director of children services Cornelia Andrecut on a permanent basis and Ofsted inspectors praised her appointment as a ‘catalyst for improvement’.
Children’s services were put into a trust back in 2021, on government orders after the collapse of the former county council. At one stage there was a children’s commissioner appointed to oversee improvements, as the service had serious failings and two children Dylan Tiffin Brown and Eve Rose Muggleton, who were known to social services died at the hands of their parental carer.
The improvements cited by Ofsted have come at a cost. Since its inception the trust has over run financially every year, with the two unitary authorities, which fund it, having to find millions extra each year to fund it.
As reported by the local Democracy Reporting Service, children’s services in Northants now costs almost double what they did three years ago, with an annual spend of £213m.
This year the overspend was around £30m.
Earlier articles from us on this issue
Huge overspends once again in Northants children's services budget
By Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
Congratulations to Colin Foster and his team. It shows what can be achieved with inspirational leadership and necessary funding.
I am very surprised that NNJOURNAL has not reported the death of Simon Tilley. You may not like the person or what he was accused of. However, he was one of the few people in Northamptonshire that has been for a very long time harrassed by the Northamptonshire Police for speaking out about corruption. He did sterling work in exposing Adderley for what he really was. I.e a con man. He also reported suspicious behaviour by senior officers in the Northamptonire Constabulary. My experience as an Independent co-opted members of the Northamptonshire, Police, Fire and Crime panel demonstrated just how little interest there was among elected Councillors and MP'S in getting a Police force to be proud of.