Ofsted
Today (13 August 2015) Ofsted has published data for childrens social care in England 2015. The data incorporates the latest inspection grade for 2,787 active childrens social care providers and 59 local authority childrens services departments. This is the first time all Ofsteds social care inspection statistics have been published together in one bulletin.
The data covers:
- inspection outcomes for local authority childrens services inspections, published by 30 June 2015
- inspection outcomes for all regulated, and other, childrens social care provision, 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015
- information about the providers of childrens social care, including the numbers of providers and places, as at 31 March 2015
Matthew Coffey, Ofsteds Chief Operating Officer said:
This overview of the performance of social care services for children and young people further reinforces the findings of Ofsteds social care annual report, published earlier this year. We are seeing a childrens services sector in transition, with some, but not yet enough, local authorities demonstrating they are working in a more child centred way.
The 14 local authorities judged to be good have shown they are putting the outcomes of children at the heart of their decision-making and practice. These areas demonstrate what can be done, and we urge other authorities to learn from their example.
The quality of childrens homes has also fallen, which is cause for concern given the vulnerabilities of the children and young people they support. Ofsted will be closely monitoring the performance of the sector, bolstered by a new inspection framework, which explicitly focuses on the progress and experiences of children and young people.