Herefordshire Children's Services Improvement Plan is evolving to transform Herefordshire's Children's Social Care Services. It aims to improve the outcomes for children and young people across the county.
The original Improvement Plan was endorsed by Cabinet on Thursday 15 December 2022.
Phase 2 of the Plan was endorsed by Cabinet on Thursday 26 September 2024 * following the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee meeting on Tuesday 17 September 2024.
You can read the background to Herefordshire's Children's Services improvements.
Progress updates
27 March 2024
Feedback from the fourth Ofsted monitoring visit to Herefordshire Council Children's Services that took place on 21 and 22 February 2024 was published on 27 March 2024.
Read the Ofsted letter (March 2024) and the council's response (March 2024) to the feedback.
January 2024
On 22 November 2023, the Herefordshire Children's Improvement Board members were presented with a progress and update report for the Herefordshire Children's Services Improvement Plan. The next Improvement Board meeting took place on 31 January 2024.
13 December 2023
The Children's Services Commissioner in Herefordshire, Eleanor Brazil, published her six month progress report to the minister for Children Families and Wellbeing for Herefordshire Children's Services on 13 December 2023.
You can read the Children's Services Commissioner's report (December 2023) in full on the government's website and the council's response (December 2023).
31 October 2023
Feedback from the third Ofsted monitoring visit to Herefordshire Council Children's Services on 26 and 27 September 2023 was published on 31 October 2023.
Read the Ofsted letter (October 2023) and the council's response to the feedback (October 2023).
2 August 2023
Feedback from the second Ofsted monitoring visit of Herefordshire Council's Children's Services that took place on 28 and 29 June 2023, was published by the council.
Read a full copy of the Ofsted letter (August 2023) and the council's response to the feedback (August 2023).
3 July 2023
Herefordshire announced a long-term partnership with Leeds City Council as part of the Children's Services improvement programme. Leeds are the country's leading Children's Services teams and are rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted. They have a strong track record of working with a growing number of local authorities to help improve their services. The move is a significant development in Herefordshire's Children's Services improvement programme and our Leeds colleagues have been warmly welcomed by staff.
14 June 2023
The council published feedback from the first Ofsted monitoring visit of Herefordshire Council's Children's Services, since being judged inadequate in September 2022. The visit took place on 29 and 30 March 2023, and focused on the 'front-door' to the service.
View the findings of the visit (May 2023) and the council's response to the feedback (June 2023).
6 June 2023
A report was published by an independent 'Families Commission' following meetings with families that had previous and current experience of Herefordshire Children's Services. The panel was commissioned jointly by the Children's Commissioner, Eleanor Brazil, the Herefordshire Safeguarding Children Partnership and Herefordshire Council, and comprised of three appropriately qualified and experienced independent professionals.
View a copy of the report on the Herefordshire Safeguarding Partnership website. Read the council's response to the report (June 2023).
1 March 2023
The Children's Commissioner has carried out a full review of Children's Services over a period of three to four months and submitted a report to the Secretary of State on 11 January 2023. The report was published on 1 March 2023. On the same day the Secretary of State published a revised direction on the future of Herefordshire Children's Services. In the decision the Minister, Claire Coutinho MP, agreed to all of the recommendations in the Children's Commissioner's report.
In line with the Commissioner's recommendations Herefordshire Children's Services will remain with the council. The council will continue to work closely with the Children's Commissioner and the Department for Education appointed Improvement Advisor, Gladys Rhodes White OBE, on our improvement programme.
The Commissioner will continue to oversee our improvement programme and she will look to secure a long-term improvement partnership with another Ofsted rated 'Good' or 'Outstanding' neighbouring local authority.
Clear targets have been set that the council must work hard to meet. The Commissioner will determine at three month intervals whether sufficient progress is made. After six months the Commissioner will conduct another full review of our Children's Services. If the level of progression required is not achieved then she will revisit the question whether an alternative delivery model for Herefordshire Children's Services is required.
Significant additional investment has been allocated from council reserves since 2021 to support the improvement work and fund the changes needed to comprehensively transform Herefordshire Children's Services.
Tell us about your experience of Herefordshire's Children's Social Care services
If anyone has concerns about the way they, or someone they know, have been treated by Herefordshire Children's Social Care services, you can contact us on our CareConcerns form or email CareConcerns@herefordshire.gov.uk
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