‘Turning 18 when you’re in care is really scary’

Although the service has been rated “good” overall, there are some areas that still require improvements, according to Ofsted.

Inspectors made four recommendations, around the council’s private fostering arrangements, homelessness response for 16- and 17-year-olds, response to children experiencing long-term neglect, and response to children who go missing.

These were areas highlighted in previous Ofsted reports when the service was run by the former local authority.

“While they could see we had firm plans in place, we were literally just about to launch the new policies when Ofsted arrived, so what they couldn’t see was the impact of those policies and the positive changes that will be seen going forward,” says Philippa Holmes, the council’s assistant director for children’s services.

She is “incredibly proud” of what has been achieved in such a short space of time and is “very confident” the service would continue to improve, she says.