Sunderland children’s services making progress, Ofsted says

Children’s services operated by Sunderland Council have made significant progress, after Ofsted previously rated the services as inadequate.

Ofsted inspectors recently visited the facilities in the region and explored the progress made in improving services for care leavers - one of the areas criticised.

Inspectors discussed what measures had been put in place with care leavers, social workers, managers and housing providers, and examined electronic case records, supervision records, observation of social work practice, performance data and young people's case file audit findings.

Fiona Millns, Ofsted inspector, who led the visit, said: “The local authority is making significant progress to improve services for care leavers.”

Paul Watson, Leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “We know that we’ve still got a long way to go and a lot of work to do before services are where they need to be.

“We won’t be happy until services across the board are in a much better place but it’s heartening to know we are beginning to make inroads in improving the lives of children and young people.”