Outcome of Children's Services Ofsted Inspection

Dear Members, 

We are incredibly proud to share some fantastic news with you all. Following a three-week inspection by Ofsted in June, Children’s Services have been officially judged as ‘Good’ with ‘Outstanding’ elements in a report published by Ofsted on Monday.  

This marks an important step in our journey to improve outcomes for our children and young people since the last full inspection in 2022, when services were found to require improvement.  

Today, we are celebrating a judgement of Good in overall effectiveness, Outstanding in two of the four inspection categories, and Good in the remaining two as outlined above. This is a brilliant result which is a testament to the dedication, professionalism, and compassion of our teams both in Children’s Services and colleagues across the council who supported the improvement. 

We are particularly proud that the experiences and progress of children in care was judged to be Outstanding by inspectors given these are some of our most vulnerable children in Gloucestershire. They found that ‘Children in care experience exceptional care and support.’

Leaders were also singled out for praise, where their impact on social work practice with children and families was found to be Outstanding. Ofsted said that leaders ‘have been relentless in their ambition to improve children’s lives… systematically creating the conditions for success,’ adding that, ‘as a result, social work practice is now strong in all areas and the experiences and progress of vulnerable children are much improved.’

This is testament to the shared drive of the Children’s leadership team our amazing, dedicated practitioners and managers, our partners and elected members. This collective team effort has been undertaken with so much commitment, inspiration, and passion. It was wonderful that Inspectors clearly saw the impact of the improvements which have been made.

We’d like to thank everyone involved for their amazing work over the last three years and indeed daily to improving the lives of children and families in Gloucestershire. We are delighted with this result and we’re sure you’ll join us in congratulating all colleagues within Children’s Services, those who have supported the change across the council, and our partners, who have worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome.

This is a key milestone to celebrate, and we remain focused on our mission: to continue building on this success and ensure that every child and young person in our county has the opportunity to thrive.

Thank you for your continued support and commitment to improving the lives of children and families in Gloucestershire.

Best wishes 

Jo, Lisa, Ann, Ben & Linda 

Jo Walker, Chief Executive of Gloucestershire County Council 

Cllr Lisa Spivey, Leader of Gloucestershire County Council

Ann James, Executive Director of Children’s Services

Cllr Ben Evans, Cabinet Member for Children’s Safeguarding and Care

Cllr Linda Cohen, Cabinet member responsible for Education and Skills