Ofsted has this week published its summary of findings following its latest monitoring visit.
Hendon Town Hall
The visit, which took place in April, was the third to take place since Ofsted judged Barnet’s Children’s Services to be inadequate in July last year.
During this visit, inspectors focused on reviewing the work of a number of teams in relation to vulnerable adolescents.
The findings acknowledged that while challenges remain, the council is consolidating the improvements already made, with the pace of change remaining consistent and focused, and with the quality of social work practice slowly improving.
Last year the council established an Improvement Action Plan which it is currently working towards achieving. This plan sets out what needs to be done, structured around seven improvement themes, and is aimed at ensuring all the necessary improvements happen as quickly as possible.
The Leader of Barnet Council, Councillor Richard Cornelius, said: “The safety and welfare of our children remains of paramount importance to us and we acknowledge that we have fallen short in providing the care they need and deserve.
“I am pleased that Ofsted has highlighted in its findings that we are continuing to consolidate the positive progress we have already made, but we fully recognise there is still a great deal of hard work to be done.
“We will remain focused on the challenges ahead and working to deliver our action plan and the improvements we need to make.”
The full findings are available via the Ofsted website.