Setting

Zoe Fearon Executive Director, Children’s Services Halton Children’s Services Municipal Building Kingsway Widness WA8 7QF

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Monitoring visit to Halton Children’s Services

This letter summarises the findings of the monitoring visit to Halton children’s services on 29 and 30 April 2025. This was the second monitoring visit since the local authority was judged inadequate in May 2024. His Majesty’s Inspectors for this visit were Lisa Walsh and Gareth Dakin.

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Areas covered by the visit

Inspectors reviewed the progress made in the following areas of concern identified at the last inspection:

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Areas covered by the visit

◼ Child in need assessment and planning. ◼ Child protection planning. ◼ Children who are subject to pre-proceedings. ◼ Children living in private fostering arrangements. ◼ The impact of leaders on social work practice. ◼ The local authority’s own evaluation of the quality and impact of performance and practice.

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Areas covered by the visit

This visit was carried out in line with the inspection of local authority children’s services (ILACS) framework. A range of evidence was considered, including electronic records, performance management information, case file audits and other information provided by senior managers. In addition, inspectors spoke to social workers. Ofsted

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Areas covered by the visit

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 Textphone 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Headline findings

Since the last monitoring visit, steady progress in the development of social work practice has been made and senior leaders have continued to establish some positive foundations for improving practice.

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Headline findings

Strong political and corporate support and significant additional investment in children’s services are supporting the development of services in line with the improvement plan. There is a refreshed recruitment strategy and more social workers have become permanent. Social workers have been provided with a wide range of training. The learning from training is supporting social workers to consolidate, refresh and develop their practice. This training is starting to impact positively on children’s experiences.

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Headline findings

Leaders’ understanding of front-line services and the quality of practice is improving through continued external scrutiny. Leaders have an accurate understanding of the strengths and areas for development in practice. Some progress is evident, particularly in the quality of assessment and planning for children in need and those subject to child protection planning and pre-proceedings. However, for some children, inconsistent management oversight is not supporting timely decision- making and there is more to do to ensure that children’s individual needs inform the social work response. There is not a consistently effective response to children living in private fostering arrangements.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

In children and family assessments, needs and risks are increasingly being identified and understood. Social workers are able to articulate the impact of harm on children, and this is beginning to improve children’s experiences. Assessments routinely consider family history to provide context for children’s experiences. The voices of children are mostly reflected in assessments, supporting more child-focused planning. Children are now being visited regularly by their social worker and when appropriate they are seen alone. Social workers take time to develop trusting relationships with children and this can be seen in their understanding of familial dynamics and experiences. When relationships have been more challenging to develop, social workers persist, ensuring that they maintain a focus on children.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

An increase in workforce stability, an improvement in the quality of training, as well as managers having clearer expectations of staff, are leading to social workers completing more purposeful direct work with children and families. There is more to do to ensure that the quality of recording of this work supports children’s voices being explicit in their records.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Multi-agency contributions are clear in assessments, informing next steps. There is collaborative planning with children and families. Social workers provide thoughtful analysis and clear recommendations, with more considered management oversight adding rigour and influencing future actions. However, assessments do not always fully explore the child’s identity or family networks, which limits a more holistic understanding of their unique needs.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Decisions, such as when to step down from child protection, are being informed by up-to-date assessments of risk. The improved quality of assessments now provides additional assurance that risks to children have reduced. When risks increase or decrease, children and families quickly receive the right level of support, appropriately moving between children in need and child protection planning. This is minimising delay for these children.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

More effective partnership working is contributing to the identification and reduction of risk and need for children. Partners and families are now consistently involved in meetings and planning processes. Plans are supporting families to access the most appropriate services to make a positive difference and improve children’s experiences. Contingency planning is mostly clear, supporting an appropriate response should children’s circumstances change.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Actions within plans are tailored to the individual needs of children. However, the timescales for these actions are not consistently clear. This means that, for some children, actions can take longer than they should to complete. Plans are reviewed regularly, which is helping to support positive change for children and families.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Pre-proceedings work, as part of the Public Law Outline (PLO), is developing well. Many children are being successfully diverted away from proceedings and supported to live safely with their family. A robust legal gateway process is providing more child-focused challenge to practice and supporting greater consistency in decision- making around the PLO threshold. A recent change in practice requires the chair of legal gateway meetings to include a summary for the child in the meeting minutes, explaining the decisions made about their life and the implication of those decisions. This is helping to provide clear, meaningful context to the child’s records and is supporting their understanding of their history should they review the records as adults.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Leaders monitor and review pre-proceedings work effectively. This enables social workers and managers to understand clearly what needs to happen and by when. This is also helping to reduce delay for children. Nonetheless, the timeliness in planning remains an area for improvement for some children. There is a continued focus on embedding a culture of timebound action planning in pre-proceedings, which is beginning to support more timely and effective interventions. Children and families benefit from strong multi-agency support and access to support to help reduce risks. Priority is appropriately given to conducting early viability assessments of family and friends to explore safe options for children to stay within their extended networks. When children are living in private fostering arrangements, they are visited promptly by social workers to explore their feelings about safety and to ensure that their

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Findings and evaluation of progress

wishes and views are heard. Immediate checks and references on carers and other adults living in the home are consistently undertaken, supported by Police National Computer checks during the interim period. For some children, there are delays in the initiation of private fostering assessments and the completion of full statutory checks, which create uncertainty about the safety and suitability of the arrangement.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Once arrangements are approved, not all children receive the appropriate levels of management oversight. This means that any emerging needs and risk may not be responded to in a timely and effective way. There is more to do to raise awareness of private fostering and embed more consistent practice.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Leaders are demonstrating a clear commitment to making the improvements needed. There are some firm foundations being established to support the transformation of social work practice. Significant financial investment from the council is aligned with the improvement plan and is supporting service development. The creation of additional manager and social work posts, alongside a targeted recruitment strategy, is beginning to improve the quality of practice and children’s experiences.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Staff turnover has delayed planning for some children, but leaders are prioritising workforce stability. A rise in permanent appointments, and the successful conversion of agency staff to permanent roles, are reducing the dependency on using agency staff and helping to embed service improvements. This is supporting continuity for children and families.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Quality assurance and performance management arrangements are now providing leaders with effective oversight of practice. Regular use of effective performance data and moderated audits are contributing to a more accurate understanding of service quality. There is more to do to ensure consistency in listening to the voices of children and their families within audits, to support a deeper insight into the impact of practice.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Most social work supervision is held regularly, providing managers with opportunities to review the progress of children’s plans and maintain oversight of the quality of social work practice. In most records, children’s wishes are clearly recorded, with an appropriate focus on their experiences, and there is evidence of challenge where necessary. Supervision actions are mostly specific to individual children’s needs. However, not all actions are consistently dated for completion, and this does not strengthen accountability and reduce the potential for drift.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Social workers told inspectors that they feel well supported by their managers. They said that there is an open and accessible culture in Halton, which is supporting them to feel more connected to the service, to senior leaders, and more involved in the improvement journey. I am copying this letter to the Department for Education.

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