OFSTED inspectors have praised improvements in the county’s children’s services provision after a recent visit to Herefordshire Council.

Inspectors reviewed the council’s arrangements for receiving referrals about children who may be in need or at risk of significant harm during the visit on January 22.

The team also reviewed arrangements for children transferring to and from early help services, the effectiveness of child protection enquiries and quality of assessments and interventions for children in need of help and protection.

Inspectors looked at a wide range of evidence relating to the council’s children’s services – most of the visit was spent talking directly to social workers and reviewing cases.

The feedback from the visit highlighted improvements since the Ofsted inspection in June 2018 which found the impact leaders were having on social work practice with children and families was inadequate and said the council needed to improve overall.

On their latest visit, they found the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub was more effective and stable and that there is more support for access to early help for families.

Discussions focusing on children at risk are timely and well attended by key professionals, according to inspectors.

And families are supported on a range of issues, such as housing, finance and access to mental health services.

Inspectors also say action by senior leaders has improved the overall stability of the social care workforce.

And social workers have seen a reduction in caseloads which allows teams to focus on timeliness and quality.

However, Ofsted says the pace of progress has been hampered by staff turnover and difficulties recruiting to key management positions.

Children and families cabinet member Elissa Swinglehurst said: “The feedback from this latest Ofsted visit is positive and reflects the decisions and actions that were taken both prior and subsequent to the visit by Ofsted in June 2018.

“We will now take time to reflect on Ofsted’s comments and use them to continue to improve the support services that we offer Herefordshire’s children and young people.”

Children and families director Chris Baird said he was really pleased with the Ofsted report.

“This is testament to the hard work, dedication and commitment of our social workers, support workers, managers, and wider council services,” he said.

“We are fully aware that there are still areas where there is much more to do to provide consistently good services for children and young people in Herefordshire and build on improving the conditions for good support and social work to flourish.

“We have put in place a strong leadership team and we are fortunate to have passionate and committed staff, members, partners, foster carers who will do all they can to provide the best services possible.

“Keeping children safe is the council’s highest priority and we will continue to improve our service to ensure that Herefordshire’s children and young people feel supported.”