Setting

John Gregg Director of Children’s Services Peterborough Sand Martin House Bittern Way Fletton Quays Peterborough

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Monitoring visit to Peterborough children’s services

This letter summarises the findings of the monitoring visit to Peterborough children’s services on 24 February 2026. The visit was the sixth monitoring visit since the local authority was judged inadequate in January 2024. His Majesty’s Inspectors for this visit were Nicki Shaw and Rebecca Dubbins.

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Areas covered by the visit

Inspectors reviewed the response to children experiencing neglect from referral through to review child protection conference.

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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.

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Headline findings

Leaders in Peterborough remain committed and ambitious for children and families. There is strong corporate and political support and children’s services have benefited from significant financial investment. The director of children’s services and the stable leadership team continue to drive improvements across the service. While the overall response to children who are experiencing neglect has improved, there continue to be delays in responding to some children in the multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH) due to capacity issues.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Professionals make appropriate referrals to children’s services when children require help and protection due to experiencing potential neglect. These referrals provide sufficient information about children to inform a decision about next steps. Managers have oversight of all new referrals to determine the level of risk and need and outline the timescales for action. For some children, there are delays in referrals being progressed because of capacity issues in the MASH. This means that children and their families do not always get the response they need at the right time. The local Ofsted

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 Textphone 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.gov.uk/ofsted authority is aware that this as an area for development and have plans in place to build capacity in April 2026.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Social workers complete relevant multi-agency checks and use this information as well as considering children’s history to inform whether an assessment and additional support is needed. Referrers are also contacted for follow-up information when necessary. Parents are contacted so they can share their views about the concerns being raised. This also includes considering the views of the extended family, who are contacted to maximise support to children early on. Children’s views are obtained and these are visible in their records and are reflective of their age and stage of development.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Social workers are curious about issues that impact family functioning and explore these in detail to support a robust analysis of children’s needs. Management oversight provides a clear rationale why threshold has been met for statutory intervention. When information needs to be shared without delay due to safeguarding concerns, and parents have not been informed, appropriate action is taken. Targeted early help support is identified when needed, providing families with a proportionate response to their needs.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Some children experience repeat referrals to children’s social care and repeat assessments for similar concerns about neglect. This is because previous support and intervention have not led to sustained improvements in children’s lives. This means that some children are living in neglectful situations without sustained change and improvements.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

The commissioned emergency duty team (EDT) has an effective interface with children’s services to ensure that any concerns about children dealt with out of working hours are followed up by the social work teams. For some children, their records do not capture a rationale when EDT decide not to take any action. When there are concerns about the likelihood of significant harm to children, strategy meetings are convened out of hours and appropriate action is taken.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Most children living in neglectful environments experience positive and enduring relationships with their social workers, who know their children well. This helps children to engage in direct work so their lived experience influences and shapes their plans. Children, including disabled children who experience neglect, benefit from comprehensive and analytical assessments so that their needs are fully understood. Children’s histories are fully considered to inform decision-making. Assessments of children’s needs illustrate risks, vulnerabilities associated with neglect, and family strengths. Social workers are mindful of the complexities that exist within families and carefully consider how these impact on children’s development and the care that they receive. This informs children’s plans and next steps.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Specialist assessments are commissioned to support professionals when planning appropriate support for some children where neglect is a factor. However, for some children, there are delays in completing paediatric reviews to identify whether their developmental delay is due to neglect or genetic reasons. This impacts on children receiving the right support at the right time.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Social workers use research effectively in order to inform their assessment of children’s needs and their parents’ ability to meet these needs. The impact of domestic abuse, parental mental ill health and substance misuse on children’s development is well understood by social workers and managers. This informs decision-making about the level and nature of support required to reduce risk and need for children. Social workers understand families’ diversity and cultural needs and explore appropriate services to respond to their needs.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Neglect tools are used to inform assessments and plans for children experiencing neglect, and the use of these tools is proportionate to the needs of children and their families. For some children, the engagement of fathers in assessment is not always considered, and this impacts on understanding their role in the family and the support they can provide to their children.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Assessments about neglect are informed by visits to families and the frequency of visiting reflects the level of concerns. These assessment visits are usually well recorded and show how social workers collate information to inform their assessments and plans for next steps. Children benefit from direct work so they can fully participate in the assessment and decisions about their plans. Social workers use a range of age-appropriate tools to engage children.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Strategy discussions are appropriately convened when there are concerns about children suffering harm due to neglect. These discussions are well attended by relevant multi-agency professionals who share information to inform the analysis of risk to children. This is an improved picture since the previous monitoring visit. The minutes of these discussions are comprehensive and clearly record the rationale for decision-making. There is a timely response to children who require a child protection plan and legal proceedings as a result of experiencing neglect.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

When children become subject to child protection plans for neglect, core group meetings are held regularly, with parents and multi-agency professionals attending to review progress against plans. This promotes information-sharing and connectivity between key agencies that inform the ongoing analysis of risk. However, the risks and rationale for ongoing child protection plans could be better evidenced for some children. For a small minority of children, their plans are over optimistic given their ongoing experience of neglect. This has the potential to minimise appropriate protection for children and can lead to children experiencing repeated cycles of neglect.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

When children continue to experience harm due to neglect because parents have been unable to make the necessary changes, action is usually taken to appropriately escalate matters into the pre-proceedings phase of the Public Law Outline and care proceedings when required. When children’s circumstances improve, children are appropriately stepped down to child in need plans for the support to continue.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Child protection plans are informed by regular visits to children and their families. Children are seen alone to understand their views. Most visits to children are purposeful. However, some records do not capture interventions within the home in order to reduce risks associated with neglect. This limits an understanding of how progress is being made against the plan.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Child in need plans are created to enable parents to understand what needs to change and these are written in a way that also helps parents to understand the support that can be offered. When parents are not clear why social work intervention is needed, social workers take time to explain this to them.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Social workers pro-actively seek the support of the wider family, and family network meetings are convened when required to maximise the support available to children who experience neglect.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

The local authority’s self-evaluation and quality assurance activity about neglect and associated practice themes provides them with an accurate understanding about the quality of practice. However, performance data needs strengthening so that leaders are assured by its accuracy to provide effective scrutiny and monitoring.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Leaders have focused on recruitment and retention to improve the stability of the workforce. This is showing promising results, with some social workers converting from agency to permanent posts, citing a positive work environment as informing their decisions. Performance data supports this improving picture with fewer social work vacancies over the past year and an increasing number of the workforce now in permanent posts.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

Social workers spoke positively about working in Peterborough. They report that they have supportive managers who provide them with the guidance and assurance they need. Social workers describe leaders as visible and approachable.

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Findings and evaluation of progress

I am copying this letter to the Department for Education.

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