Devon local authority children’s services

Inspection of Devon local authority children’s services

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Inspection dates: 30 September to 11 October 2024 and 13 to 16 January 2025

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Judgement Grade

The impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families Requires improvement to be good

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Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of children who need help and protection Inadequate

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Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of children in care Inadequate

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Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of care leavers Inadequate

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Judgement Grade

Children’s experiences in Devon remain poor. For too many children, serious weaknesses remain, leaving children at risk of harm. This is particularly the case for children experiencing neglect and domestic abuse, those at risk of extra-familial harm and care leavers living in unsuitable accommodation.

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Judgement Grade

From the time of the last inspection, in March 2020, until January 2025, there have been several changes of director of children’s services (DCS). Following the departure of the previous DCS at the end of 2024, the current DCS is an interim appointment, although he previously held the same role between January and September 2023. Since 2023, with the permanent appointments of the chief executive and some other senior leaders, there has been increased stability in leadership. This has enabled more ambitious and better-informed improvement plans to take shape and to begin to have an impact on practice, from a very low base. Some areas of practice and services have seen improvements as a result, such as the emergency duty service and permanence planning. Increased corporate and political support have resulted in an expanded targeted early help service.

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Judgement Grade

Inspectors carried out the first part of this inspection between 30 September and 11 October 2024. As a result of Ofsted’s quality assurance processes and in following Ofsted’s deferring, pausing and gathering additional evidence policy, inspectors returned from 13 January until 16 January 2025. Inspection of Devon local authority children’s services 30 September to 11 October 2024 and 13 to 16 January 2025 Local authority leaders took decisive action in response to significant weaknesses that were identified by inspectors in October 2024, and subsequently implemented some targeted plans that have supported positive change, including an improvement in the responses to contacts. While there is a clear determination to turn around services for children, that is leading to some improvement, the current positive impact for children and care leavers is not widespread.

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What needs to improve?

◼ The response to children at immediate risk of harm, including the timeliness of strategy discussions.

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What needs to improve?

◼ The identification of risk and response to neglect, domestic abuse and extra- familial harm for children.

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What needs to improve?

◼ The quality and impact of plans for children and care leavers to meet their needs.

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What needs to improve?

◼ The assessment of risk and safety planning for care leavers.

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What needs to improve?

◼ The availability of support and sufficient suitable local homes to meet the needs of children in care and care leavers.

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What needs to improve?

◼ Management oversight and grip across the service and the effectiveness of supervision.

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protection: inadequate

1. An increasingly stable senior leadership team has brought about improvements in services for some children in need of help and protection, including those in need of targeted early help, children who are privately fostered and children who are subject to pre-proceedings in accordance with the Public Law Outline (PLO). However, while some progress has been made, there continue to be serious failures in the response to some children, such as those at risk from neglect, domestic abuse and extra-familial harm.

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protection: inadequate

2. An internal review in early 2024 of early help support offered to children and families led to a recognition by senior leaders of the need to strengthen, improve and expand targeted early help provision in Devon. However, recruitment of staff and managers could not keep pace with increasing demand during mid-2024, and some families with less urgent needs had to wait for this targeted support. For some of these families, a lack of contact from the service during late 2024 and a lack of curiosity by the service about the impact of the delay on children meant that escalating support needs were not always recognised. A recently fully staffed service has significantly reduced waiting lists and improved the speed of response. Inspection of Devon local authority children’s services 30 September to 11 October 2024 and 13 to 16 January 2025 3. The application of thresholds for targeted early help support is appropriate,

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protection: inadequate

meaning that these children and families now receive the right level of support to meet their needs without unnecessary statutory intervention. Leaders took action after weaknesses in this aspect were identified in October 2024.

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protection: inadequate

4. The ‘front door’, which responds to contacts about children who may be at risk, in need or require early help, now provides an effective response to most children and families, after weaknesses were identified and improvements were made. Managers provide timely and appropriate oversight of contacts, and social workers are promptly allocated to undertake screening activity. Parental consent is routinely considered at the front door and only dispensed with if appropriate and necessary to protect children.

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protection: inadequate

5. Screening activity at the front door is mostly effective, with partner agencies being asked to provide information when appropriate and family members usually being contacted as part of screening. Children’s histories are routinely recorded and used to help inform decision-making about next steps. This supports children and families through a proportionate and timely response in relation to their circumstances and needs.

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protection: inadequate

6. Thresholds for different levels of intervention are understood and applied by staff and managers in the front door, and most decisions about next steps are completed in timescales appropriate to children’s needs. When children are deemed to be at risk of harm, this is usually quickly recognised, and work moves out of the front door to the assessment and intervention teams. Children’s immediate safety needs prior to a strategy meeting taking place are not always properly considered at the front door. This means that some children who have been judged to be at potential risk of significant harm are left in situations where their safety has not been clearly assessed, evaluated and planned for. This has left some children at risk of harm.

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protection: inadequate

7. Basic checks are not completed consistently when children are accommodated in an emergency. Social workers do not routinely make sure that there is early consideration of emergency carers’ capacity to meet children’s needs or consider wider safety planning through initial assessment to help ensure children’s safety.

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protection: inadequate

8. There are delays in almost half of the child protection strategy discussions being held. The reasons for delays in holding strategy discussions are often not recorded. When coupled with a lack of immediate planning to ensure that children are helped and kept safe, these delays leave some children at potential risk of ongoing significant harm.

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protection: inadequate

9. When strategy discussions do take place, they are now usually well attended by partner agencies, who provide helpful information to aid decision-making. There is suitable consideration of each child’s history, alongside the presenting issues, and decisions made at strategy discussions are appropriate. The application of thresholds for child protection enquiries is appropriate, and Inspection of Devon local authority children’s services 30 September to 11 October 2024 and 13 to 16 January 2025 actions such as seeing children or completing medical examinations of children are given suitable timescales. However, there is, again, sometimes a lack of clarity about how the child will be kept safe while those processes and actions are completed.

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protection: inadequate

10. Assessments mostly identify the presenting concerns for children and are informed by historical information. The quality of pre-birth assessments is variable, and some lack thorough analysis to inform effective planning. Social workers generally undertake regular visits in line with children’s needs. However, records do not always provide evidence of a clear understanding of children’s experiences. The quality of direct work undertaken by social workers is mixed. For some children, it is well focused and meaningful and helps them to share their wishes and feelings well, while for others, it is superficial and has little impact.

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protection: inadequate

11. In some cases, there is a reluctance to take decisive action when there are limited improvements to children’s lives. This means that some children are left in neglectful or risky circumstances for too long.

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protection: inadequate

12. Child protection conferences are generally well attended, and conference chairs mostly write detailed minutes following initial and review child protection conferences. However, the views of children about their lives are often missing. A large majority of child protection conferences are held virtually. While this enables some professionals or family members to attend who could not otherwise have done so, and helps with the timeliness of others, this practice has become too routine. For some children and families, it makes their meaningful engagement in these complex and sometimes difficult discussions harder.

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protection: inadequate

13. The quality and impact of many child-in-need and child protection plans are variable, because many plans are lengthy and do not clearly set out what needs to change. This can make it difficult for families to understand what is expected of them or for families and professionals to track progress. Actions from core groups also often lack clarity about how outcomes are measured. This makes it harder for social workers and other professionals to track progress and drive change for children. Some children are ‘stepped down’ from a child protection plan to a child-in-need plan before changes have been fully tested or sustained.

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protection: inadequate

14. Work to support children in the pre-proceedings phase of the PLO has improved. For most children supported in pre-proceedings, this work is generally timely and working well, resulting in children being diverted from care proceedings when it is safe and in their best interests to do so, or timely applications being made to the family court to help to ensure their safety. The introduction of legal gateway panel in February 2024 has provided a framework to strengthen decision-making in this area of practice. Some parents whose children have been removed from their care previously are now being successfully supported to care for their children. Inspection of Devon local authority children’s services 30 September to 11 October 2024 and 13 to 16 January 2025 15. Social workers demonstrate a clear understanding of the impact of disability when undertaking assessments. However, some plans focus on current issues,

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protection: inadequate

lacking a sufficient focus on the impact of long-term neglect for some children. The voice of some disabled children in their records is limited because there is little use of augmented techniques and observations by social workers to help to understand children’s wishes and feelings. Children who receive short breaks generally have positive experiences that make a difference to their lives.

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protection: inadequate

16. The response to domestic abuse is not always sufficiently timely. This means that too many families do not receive the right support and interventions from the local authority and its partner agencies at the right time to reduce potential harm to children. Senior leaders have recently recruited an independent domestic abuse adviser at the front door to strengthen the response to domestic abuse, and plan to expand this role across the service. Contacts about domestic abuse at the front door are now mostly progressed in a timely way. Consideration is given to the impact of abuse for the child, alongside any history of concerns and previous involvement with services.

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protection: inadequate

17. When children are first identified as being at risk of criminal or sexual exploitation, the response is not sufficiently effective across the partnership for all children. This is because some children wait too long for support, and systems are not embedded to help identify and target support for the most vulnerable. Senior leaders have recognised this and created a new service to strengthen the response to children identified as being at risk of exploitation. More widely across longer-term teams, there is an inconsistent response because not all children’s risks are properly understood, and there is limited analysis of the impact of planned actions to reduce risk. Information-sharing arrangements and coordination with partner agencies are not fully embedded.

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protection: inadequate

18. Responses to children who go missing from home or care are developing, however, they remain inconsistent. Most children are offered a return home interview, but many children are not sufficiently supported or engaged to take up this offer. Workers do not fully use return home interviews to understand children’s experiences outside of the home. Actions are insufficiently effective in helping to disrupt and tackle risks to those children who go missing.

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protection: inadequate

19. The emergency duty service provides a timely response for children who may be at risk at weekends and outside of office hours. When there are urgent safeguarding concerns for children, child protection strategy discussions and child protection enquiries quickly take place. Social workers ensure that information is appropriately shared and considered, with effective action taken to prioritise children’s welfare.

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protection: inadequate

20. The local authority designated officer (LADO) service is effective in responding to allegations made against professionals. Meetings are well attended and result in clearly executed actions; this helps to keep children safer. Inspection of Devon local authority children’s services 30 September to 11 October 2024 and 13 to 16 January 2025 21. The response to children who are privately fostered is consistently strong, helping to ensure that these children are living in arrangements that are safe and meet their needs. The private fostering team is raising wider awareness to ensure that all children who need such an assessment are referred promptly.

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protection: inadequate

22. The response to those children aged 16 or 17 who present as homeless is mostly timely and appropriate. Children receive considered responses to assess their needs and to enable them to return home when it is safe to do so. Those who are unable to return home receive the urgent help that they need through becoming looked after.

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protection: inadequate

23. When vulnerable children and young people are known to the local authority, staff work effectively to ensure that they attend school. When children are removed from a school roll to be home educated, a risk assessment is carried out, but the quality of these assessments is not audited. Beyond this point, the local authority is over-reliant on other agencies to report any safeguarding concerns, unless there is children’s social care support, in which case children are typically seen more regularly.

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protection: inadequate

24. The edge of care service provides an effective response to enable children to remain with or return to their families.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

25. Too many children, in particular older children, come into care in an unplanned way and at a point of crisis. Many of these children are already known to children’s services and have not received effective support to prevent their needs from escalating. The local authority has achieved improvements in aspects of its work with children in care, and planning to identify permanent homes for children is now more timely. Social workers increasingly know their children well and are committed to doing their best for them; the young asylum-seekers team demonstrates effective care planning for children. While long-term placement stability is improving, further improvements are required to embed consistency in care planning for children.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

26. A significant minority of children with more complex needs experience considerable disruption because their carers are not able to meet their needs adequately. Too many children in care live in unregistered children’s homes and have done so on an ongoing basis. This includes children over 16 living in supported accommodation but who are receiving care rather than support. While these numbers have now begun to reduce, some staff and managers have not been sufficiently clear about the difference between care and support for children in supported accommodation. Consequently, some of these children had been living in arrangements that were actually unregistered children’s homes and in which they were not routinely receiving appropriate levels of oversight. Some children’s behaviours in these settings have reached high levels of concern, where trauma and abuse have not been addressed and they have experienced much turmoil.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

Inspection of Devon local authority children’s services 30 September to 11 October 2024 and 13 to 16 January 2025 27. Once homes are recognised as being unregistered children’s homes, management oversight and visiting of children are increased, but some children remain in these settings for long periods of time without proper assessment to help to progress their plans and move them to suitable registered homes. For children with complex needs, partnership working is not strong enough to meet the needs of these highly vulnerable children. As a result, many children do not receive the mental health and therapeutic support that they need within a structured environment that can offer them safe care.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

28. Many older children appropriately live in supported accommodation which meets their needs. A small minority of older children with complex care needs live in supported accommodation which is not able to keep them safe, and they then move in an unplanned way to temporary accommodation.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

29. The quality of care plans varies, with many children’s plans failing to include the appropriate detail about how to meet their needs in a timely way. Parental views are not always visible in many assessments and plans. Family time is not consistently considered or implemented for children, most notably for those children at higher risk and living out of the area. Children who have experienced multiple moves have often lost important family relationships and their plans also lack clarity about future family time.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

30. When there are safeguarding concerns about children in care, child protection strategy meetings are not consistently held in a reasonable timescale, to enable a timely response to reduce the risk of harm to children.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

31. Too many children in care are not accessing full-time schooling. The virtual school has strengthened relationships with designated teachers for children in care in schools from a low base. While there are some individual areas of improvement, such as reading at key stage 2, overall outcomes for children in care remain poor, with a lack of intervention across the partnership for many children.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

32. While the long-term stability of children in care is improving, too many children are not living in stable homes that meet their needs. The limited choice of homes for children means that too many children live with carers who are not always well enough equipped to meet their needs. Consequently, these children are more likely to experience disruption and breakdown in their lives.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

33. The fostering service is not sufficiently effective. While managers generally understand the strengths and shortfalls of the service and are taking steps to improve the consistency of support provided to carers, frequent changes in managers and insufficient data management systems hinder progress. Despite new initiatives to recruit foster carers, there are more carers leaving the service than joining it. While some foster carers speak positively about the support that they receive, many report feeling unsupported and undervalued. However, foster carers in the initiative creating better networks for children and carers report much higher levels of satisfaction with the support that they receive, and Inspection of Devon local authority children’s services 30 September to 11 October 2024 and 13 to 16 January 2025 the impact has been that placement stability is stronger, and these children are well supported.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

34. Most reports of children in care reviews are sensitively written to children. Many children experience numerous changes of social worker, limiting their ability to form a relationship of trust with a single consistent worker who is always there for them. Independent reviewing officers (IROs) balance this to an extent by providing valued continuity through their ongoing relationships with children. IROs appropriately escalate and resolve some issues, which helps to progress children’s plans. IROs complete midway reviews and regularly hold permanence planning meetings between reviews to help prevent drift for children. While some children do attend their reviews, this is not consistent. IROs generally meet with children with advocates prior to their review to ensure that most children’s views inform their care plans.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

35. Children’s experiences of their social worker vary. Most social workers take the time to understand children’s experiences, and most social workers generally know children well and make regular and purposeful visits to them. However, for some children, visits are not frequent enough to enable trusting relationships to develop, and too many children have had several social workers. Some children’s views are regularly and sensitively captured through direct work and life-story work. This is not yet embedded for all children to help their understanding of their lives.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

36. For most children in care, their general health needs are well understood. Social workers work closely with staff from partner agencies to meet these needs, and most children receive timely initial health assessments. Senior leaders know that too many children do not have regular dental checks, and they fund this when needed for some children. Some children with mental health and emotional well-being needs, particularly those with more complex needs, do not always get the help that they need or get it quickly enough.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

37. Many children live in homes where they feel well cared for and they make progress. Many children access a range of hobbies and recreational activities, which enhance their lives and widen their experiences.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

38. Children’s plans for permanence at their second review and subsequently have been strengthened. This includes sensitive planning for children to return home when it is safe to do so. For children whose care plan is to live with their carers subject to a special guardianship order or under kinship care arrangements, their needs are carefully considered and planned for in their support plans.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

39. The local authority hosts and works collaboratively with the regional adoption agency (Adopt South West), which supports effective adoption practice and helps those children who can most benefit from finding permanent homes and families through adoption. Inspection of Devon local authority children’s services 30 September to 11 October 2024 and 13 to 16 January 2025 40. Social workers carefully consider, through detailed assessments, whether it is in the interests of brothers and sisters to live together. Children benefit from the decisions that are informed by these assessments.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

41. Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children benefit from a specialist team of social workers who understand their needs well and are able to progress their plans to ensure that their diverse needs are met.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

42. When some children leave care, decision-making is realistic and largely well planned. This is achieved for some children through special guardianship orders, supervision orders with parents or through ‘staying put’ arrangements. However, for too many children who are care leavers, this is not always well planned and has a negative impact on how they make this important transition.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

43. The experiences and progress of care leavers continue to be affected by some of the weaknesses identified at the last inspection, including the assessment of risk and, most notably, access to suitable accommodation, which is having a significant and negative impact on their lives, causing instability for some care leavers. This is a result of multiple moves between a variety of unsuitable temporary living arrangements, including bed and breakfast accommodation.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

44. Care leavers can often feel unsafe in this unsuitable accommodation, which has a negative impact on their ability to sustain relationships and to seek or maintain education, employment or training. Risks to young people are not fully understood or reduced because assessments are not always updated when their circumstances change.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

45. Most care leavers in custody were living in temporary accommodation prior to arrest. When care leavers are arrested, there are delays in seeing them in custody and visits are limited once they are in prison. There is also not enough planning or support for care leavers when they leave custody and return to their communities.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

46. For care leavers who are reluctant to engage in education, employment or training, including those with complex needs, proactive steps are not always taken to explore potential options or to fully understand the barriers preventing progress. As a result, care leavers are less likely to realise their potential and, consequently, too many are without education, employment or training for too long.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

47. The response to care leavers who are parents is inconsistent. Personal advisers ensure that some parents are offered early help and support. For others, there is insufficient support and response to their needs. When there are potential safeguarding concerns, there is a lack of urgency or partnership working to take action, and this can leave care leavers’ children at potential risk. Inspection of Devon local authority children’s services 30 September to 11 October 2024 and 13 to 16 January 2025 48. Leaders have recently recruited emotional well-being workers to provide wider support to care leavers with their emotional and mental health needs.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

49. Personal advisers typically understand the health needs of care leavers well and help them to access relevant services. However, most care leavers are waiting too long to access their records once requested. This impacts on their ability to know more about their wider history and the reasons for them coming into care. Most care leavers are not being provided with their health histories soon enough to help them to understand important aspects of their health.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

50. Personal advisers are committed to their care leavers and know them well. They start working with care leavers in readiness for their transition to adulthood, to help them to navigate the changes and build trusting relationships. Personal advisers visit most care leavers regularly, and sometimes more frequently when this is needed. They support care leavers to maintain contact with friends and family and identify how care leavers can keep themselves safe, and discuss necessary life skills for the future.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

51. Pathway plans are sensitively written, and most are co-produced. Care leavers’ views and wishes are encompassed in their pathway plans and include their future aspirations. Actions to support care leavers to achieve these are not always well set out, which leaves them uncertain about the help that they will receive.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

52. Senior leaders have created a small number of apprenticeship roles for care leavers. The care leavers in these roles describe being championed by their personal advisers, their line managers and senior leaders in the organisation, who are helping them to seek opportunities and to be aspirational. This includes a young corporate parenting lead role, to which a care-experienced person has been appointed.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

53. When care leavers reach the age of 21, there is a positive assumption that they will continue to receive support unless they stipulate otherwise. Those who need the service after the age of 21 receive the necessary help and support. Some care leavers have personal advisers who maintain contact with them after the age of 25 under a lifelong links scheme. There is also a duty system to provide advice and urgent support to care leavers when needed.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

54. Senior leaders have worked collaboratively with care leavers and agency partners to co-produce a revised version of the local offer, which has been improved and is clearly set out. This includes council tax exemptions for care leavers living in Devon and beyond, as well as leisure passes. Personal advisers are positive advocates for their care leavers, ensuring that they access their entitlements. Care leavers told inspectors of a positive change in culture over the last 18 months, and of how leaders are now listening to them and seeking their input to make the necessary improvements. Inspection of Devon local authority children’s services 30 September to 11 October 2024 and 13 to 16 January 2025

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families: requires improvement to be good

55. The three years following the inspection in 2020 saw ongoing turbulence in senior leadership in Devon. In 2023, the arrival of a new chief executive, DCS and deputy directors brought much-needed stability and a sharper focus on service improvement plans. The recent departure of the permanent DCS and the recruitment of a returning interim DCS have meant further instability in senior leadership in children’s social care. Nevertheless, since 2023, the quality of practice across children’s social care has started to improve from a very low base and widespread failures are beginning to be tackled. Inspectors saw early signs of improvements across a number of areas in October 2024, and this positive trajectory has continued.

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families: requires improvement to be good

56. Ambitious strategies and plans that address many of the shortfalls are now being implemented and are beginning to have an impact for some children. Leaders do, however, recognise that there is still much more to do to improve experiences for all children and care leavers. An accurate and thorough self- assessment had already identified the areas for development that have been highlighted during this inspection. Leaders have plans in place to improve practice and there was evidence during the course of the inspection that these plans were starting to have an impact for children.

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families: requires improvement to be good

57. Senior leaders in Devon have considerable ambition to improve children’s services. This ambition is underpinned by their ethos of ‘Children and young people in our hearts, in our minds and in our sight’. The chief executive has worked with the previous permanent DCS and now the current interim DCS with focus, energy and determination to improve services. They have the support of political leaders and there is strong corporate commitment to further investment, notably to increase housing across the eight districts for care leavers and the expansion of the targeted early help service.

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families: requires improvement to be good

58. Senior leaders are benefiting from external scrutiny and support, and the local authority’s sector-led improvement partners recognise the recent nature of improvement. They describe leaders as engaged and moving in the right direction. A vastly improved quality assurance framework now means that senior leaders know the quality of practice and areas for development increasingly well. Additionally, an extensive range of thematic and bespoke audit work is enabling weaker areas of practice to be identified. Leaders are using this understanding to drive areas of necessary change, including more timely pre-proceedings, improved permanence planning for children and a stronger local offer for care leavers.

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families: requires improvement to be good

59. The scale of inadequacy identified at the inspection in 2020, coupled with the turbulence in leadership, which has stabilised more recently, means that most children and care leavers still do not receive the level of support and protection that they need. Some of Devon’s care leavers do not benefit from stable and Inspection of Devon local authority children’s services 30 September to 11 October 2024 and 13 to 16 January 2025 secure housing to provide them with the foundations to successfully transition to adulthood. For many of these care leavers, this further exacerbates the considerable risks that they already experience.

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families: requires improvement to be good

60. Placement sufficiency is a significant ongoing challenge in Devon. There is limited range and volume of provision to meet the needs of children and care leavers. As a result, there has been an over-reliance on the use of unregistered children’s homes and other unsuitable accommodation for children in care and care leavers. Detailed and ambitious plans to provide suitable and safe accommodation, coupled with streamlined governance arrangements, are starting to have an impact. The number of children in unregistered provision reduced during the inspection period, and realistic plans are in now place to address ongoing sufficiency issues.

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families: requires improvement to be good

61. Relationships with partner agencies, such as district councils, health and police, are improving. Collectively, agencies do not always provide a sufficiently strong multi-agency response to supporting and protecting children and care leavers, including those at risk of exploitation or those experiencing domestic abuse or neglect. Senior leaders have strengthened joint working and shared governance arrangements with partner agencies, such as with the integrated care board, district councils and police. They recognise that such steps are the necessary precursors to achieving future improvement in the effectiveness of multi-agency working and positive change for children. Impact at this stage is limited, notably in relation to specialist services for children with the most acute needs.

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families: requires improvement to be good

62. Likewise, managers and staff have increased the use of performance information and management systems. These are starting to improve oversight and understanding of compliance issues. Leaders have plans to strengthen this and to implement a new IT system, although timescales for implementation are yet to be finalised.

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families: requires improvement to be good

63. The creation and ongoing development of the Children’s Social Care Academy are impressive, and the academy is starting to have a positive impact on practice. Areas of focus for development activity delivered by the academy are informed by quality assurance findings, external scrutiny, learning from complaints and national issues. Alongside restorative coaching, the training, development and resources offered by the academy have been well received by staff. Most staff share an understanding of Devon’s chosen restorative approach and the benefits that this is bringing to their work. Leaders are aware that there is more to do to strengthen the approach of restorative practice in everyday activity, and this is an ongoing focus of the work of the academy.

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families: requires improvement to be good

64. Senior leaders rightly recognise that management oversight and supervision of practice are instrumental in improving practice and have implemented a detailed programme of training and development across all levels of management. While there are pockets of stronger practice, management oversight and supervision are still not used effectively or consistently enough to improve the quality of decision-making and the work with children and care Inspection of Devon local authority children’s services 30 September to 11 October 2024 and 13 to 16 January 2025 leavers at higher risk of need. These include, for example, the quality of assessments and pathway plans or provision for those care leavers experiencing multiple moves, to help reduce risk and improve their situations.

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families: requires improvement to be good

65. Senior leaders have been successful in their efforts to reduce workloads, which are now generally manageable. Concerted efforts to recruit and retain social workers are beginning to have a positive impact for children and families. Most staff report feeling positive about their experiences of working in the local authority. While there is more to do, leaders are hitting their own targets for recruitment, and staff stability rates have improved more recently.

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families: requires improvement to be good

66. Most feedback from staff during the inspection period was positive. While some staff did express dissatisfaction to inspectors, a majority of workers said that they felt supported and valued by their managers. Many workers told inspectors that there has been a noticeable and positive change in the approach shown by leaders during the last 18 months. Inspection of Devon local authority children’s services 30 September to 11 October 2024 and 13 to 16 January 2025 regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council

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families: requires improvement to be good

children’s services, and inspects services for looked-after children, safeguarding and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk . This report is available at https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/ . Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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