Issue - meetings

The Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Children’s Services presented a report for Executive’s consideration.

The purpose of the report was to brief the Executive on the progress made against the Children’s Service Improvement Plan with particular reference to the findings of Middlesbrough’s Ofsted Monitoring Visit in November 2022.

Since the last inspection, services for older children in care and care leavers had started to improve. Most older children who were approaching leaving care were supported to develop the necessary independence skills needed to live alone. Care leavers told inspectors that most of them had experienced a positive transition from care, including that they had been well supported by their social workers and their personal advisors.

However, for some children the transition planning had not been as effective as it should have been. As a result, a small number of care leavers described: feeling rushed when moving out of care and a small number this had resulted in them remaining CIC, post 18 due to a lack of planning and the Council had continued to support them in accommodation

Some young people said they needed more financial support to enable them to buy food and pay their energy bills. The Council had some plans in place to make sure the right level of support was in place.

OPTIONS:

There were no other potential decisions Children’s Services were guided by Ofsted inspectors on the areas for improvement.

ORDERED:

That Executive note the Report

REASONS:

The action plan in the report set out the Council’s response to the letter from Ofsted. The rationale being that Children’s Services would need to demonstrate the Council had taken action following the monitoring.