We have welcomed the publication of a letter following a recent focused visit to Medway’s Children’s Services by Ofsted.
The visit follows on from Ofsted’s full inspection of Medway Council’s Children’s Services in July 2023, which saw the services being graded ‘good’ overall.
The focused visit took place in April, and inspectors looked at Medway’s arrangements for children in need and children subject to a child protection plan.
Key findings from the letter include:
- A continued corporate and political commitment and ambition to improve services for children and young people in Medway.
- A positive and impactful focus on the response to children aged 16 or 17 who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
- An ongoing focus and improvement in the response provided to children with disabilities and to adolescents at risk of exploitation.
- Children are regularly seen by their social workers, who know them well, and most visits provide opportunities for children to explore and share their experiences.
- Strong partnership working.
- Families and children have access to a wide variety of services in addition to direct work and interventions to meet their needs, which helps them to make positive changes to their circumstances.
- The regular use of family group decision-making forums has led to positive changes to children’s experiences.
- Staff recognise and value the targeted approach to professional development and career progression, and are well-supported by managers and colleagues.
The letter also acknowledged areas for improvement. These include improving the quality of assessment and planning, the timeliness of interventions to support prompt decision making, and the quality and impact of management oversight and supervision to support children’s experiences improving in a timely way. The letter did recognise that progress had been impacted by increased demands on the service, as well as challenges with recruitment and retention.
It also stated that senior leaders are continuing to focus on both strengthening management oversight and supervision, and recruitment and retention. Additionally, the letter recognised that leaders understood the strengths and weaknesses of the service well, with the council’s self-evaluation providing clarity on the quality of practice and the key areas for improvement and development.
Welcome this latest feedback
Cllr Adam Price, Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services, said: “Children’s Services in Medway have been on a significant improvement journey in recent years, and we welcome this latest feedback from Ofsted. I would like to thank our staff, leadership team and partners for their hard work and support as we continue on this journey.
“Children matter in Medway, and our ambition is to ensure every single child has the support they need to get the best possible start to life. We know there is always more work to do and this latest feedback from Ofsted reflects the hard work we have undertaken, but just as importantly highlights the areas we need to continue to work on. We remain committed to working hard to make sure children in Medway remain at the heart of everything we do.”