Council Children’s Services rated “Good” by Ofsted after first inspection

This is the council’s first routine Ofsted inspection since replacing the former County Council.

Westmorland and Furness Council’s Children’s Services have received a rating of “Good” overall following their first routine Ofsted inspection since replacing the former Cumbria County Council.

Ofsted recognised significant improvement has been made in the council’s first year as a new council and highlighted how the council has established its own unique identity, concluding that the overall effectiveness of children’s services at Westmorland and Furness Council are “Good”.

Inspectors rated four of the five key assessment areas rated as “good”.

This shows considerable improvement since children’s services was last assessed as part of the former Cumbria County Council when it was rated as requires improvement.

Ofsted conducted the full inspection of the council’s children services in April 2024, and included assessments of children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers.

Today they have published their report from that inspection.

Inspectors highlighted several strengths in their final report, including:

• Senior leaders have responded effectively and positively to local government reorganisation and the newly formed council has firmly established a unique identity.
• The experiences and progress of children who need help and protection, and for children in care, are good.
• Children and families in Westmorland and Furness receive timely and effective support from a broad range of universal and early help services.
• Children’s wishes are well captured during the multi-agency screening process and their experiences inform decision-making.
• The initial response to children at risk of significant harm is swift.
• Most children who come into care do so in a planned and timely way with robust management oversight.
• Staff feel extremely positive about working in Westmorland and Furness and recognise the positive developments to support social work practice over the last year. They feel cared for, listened to, and valued by all levels of leadership and management.

Inspectors identified the experiences and progress of care leavers as the area which requires improvement to be good.

Despite the positive inspection result, the council has expressed its determination to continue its improvement journey in children’s services and achieve its ambitious objectives for every child in Westmorland and Furness.

Cllr Sue Sanderson, Statutory Member for Children’s Services and Cabinet Member for Education, Inclusion and Skills, said: “It’s incredible how far we’ve come in such a short space of time. Children’s Services and their leadership team have worked incredibly hard over recent months to improve the services we offer for children, young people, and families and together we have developed an ambitious vision for the future.

“Our work does not stop here. We are absolutely determined to ensure that the areas for improvement identified in this report are dealt with quickly.”

Milorad Vasic, Corporate Director for Children’s Services, said:

“I’m blown away by the tireless effort and determination from our incredible workforce. This result is testament to them and everything they do for our children and young people in Westmorland and Furness.

“Inspectors could see the improvements that we’ve made in our first year and can see that we have robust and ambitions plans to continue our improvement.

“What stood out for me from the report, was that the voices of children and young people are central to the way we work and that they are listened to – which has a direct impact on the services we provide for them. I’m proud of that.

“We are ambitious though, and we’ll continue to work towards continued improvement.”