Improvements made at Peterborough Children's Services - but more work needs to be done
Some improvements are being made at Peterborough City Council’s children’s services department – but more work needs to be done.
Ofsted rated the services as ‘inadequate’ in November 2023 after an inspection. Since then, a number of monitoring visits have been made by inspectors – including one at the end of October.
During the visit, which was the fifth since the authority was judged as inadequate, inspectors reviewed the council’s care leaving service and workforce development with a particular focus on pathway planning, care leavers in custody and care leavers not in education, employment or training.
They stated: “Leaders in Peterborough remain strong, committed and highly ambitious for care leavers. The cabinet member for children services and, the newly appointed leader of the council, are committed to strengthening partnership working to ensure that services for young people improve their experiences.
"The enhanced local offer illustrates leaders’ aspirations and ambition for care leavers; it is clear, accessible, and shaped by young people. The innovative House Project is now fully operational, and this is providing targeted support for care leavers to develop independent living skills and confidence.”
Inspectors found that young people in care actively engage in participation opportunities, enabling council leaders to influence and shape service design and delivery.
They added that care leavers are supported by Personal Advisers who are ambitious for them, demonstrating warmth, interest and concern in their progress and wellbeing. This supportive approach is helping care leavers to achieve their potential.
Whilst recognising the progress that has been made, inspectors noted workforce challenges due to staff and management turnover in the service. They acknowledged that leaders are fully aware of this challenging position and have dedicated corporate support to assist with recruitment.
The inspectors said: “Leaders have developed the infrastructure around leaving care, but there remain workforce challenges because of staff and management turnover in the service.
"Consequently, personal advisers’ (PA) caseloads have increased. This increase has had a negative impact on PAs’ capacity to develop meaningful relationships and complete timely pathway plans reviews. This limits opportunities to promote the local offer and ensure that care leavers are receiving all their entitlements. Supervision and management oversight do not consistently support PAs to address this. PAs report that they can feel overworked and overwhelmed. Leaders recognise this is not a sustainable position and have dedicated corporate support to assist with recruitment.”
“Our administration and children's services department are fully focussed on working collaboratively and effectively to improve this vital service."
Councillor Katy Cole, Peterborough City Council's Cabinet Member for Children's Services, said: "Once again I am pleased with the outcome of this latest monitoring visit which acknowledges the progress we are making to achieve better outcomes for all children in Peterborough. Our administration and children's services department are fully focussed on working collaboratively and effectively to improve this vital service.
"I also want to thank all of the children and families, as well as our practitioners and staff for their hard work and continued dedication for children and their families. As the Ofsted inspectors state, we still face challenges across the service which we are actively working to overcome.”
You can read the full inspection report on Ofsted's website at https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50291790