Kingston upon Hull local authority children’s services

Inspection of Kingston upon Hull local authority children’s services

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Lead inspector: Rachel Fairhurst, His Majesty’s Inspector

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Judgement Grade

The impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families Outstanding

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Judgement Grade

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

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Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of children in care Good

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Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of care leavers Outstanding

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Judgement Grade

Children’s experiences of help, protection and care have steadily and sustainably improved since the last inspection. Senior leaders provide a clear strategic service vision, underpinned by credible, well-sequenced improvement plans. Corporate parents are knowledgeable, accountable and rigorous in their scrutiny, driving a shared commitment across the wider council to improving children’s day-to-day experiences.

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Judgement Grade

A strong focus on co-production of family help, with families, is helping to shape interventions by the experiences of children and strengthening natural support networks. Improved fostering provision and better supported kinship arrangements are leading to increasingly more children growing up in family settings. Care leavers benefit from consistently relational and ambitious support and care, giving young people the stability, opportunity and sense of belonging they need as they move into adulthood.

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Judgement Grade

A strong, supportive workforce culture enables social workers to exercise professional curiosity and challenge, enabling them to practise with confidence and clarity. Inspection of Kingston Upon Hull local authority children’s services 2 to 13 March 2026

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ The consistency of scrutiny of child protection chair oversight and effectiveness of challenge. (Enabler: the workforce is equipped and effective, national framework)

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ The experiences of children with complex needs experiencing multiple moves that disrupt their lives, and how learning is considered when subsequent matching and decision-making are undertaken. (outcome 4, national framework)

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protection: good

1. Children and their families have easy access to effective early help support in their communities through several routes, with a growing emphasis on family help. Support is accessible, purposeful and responsive to need. When children require social care support, interventions are seamless, and early help workers remain actively involved. This ensures that families experience continuity of trusted professionals, including when concerns de-escalate and children’s social care is no longer required.

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protection: good

2. Clear referral pathways into the co-located Early Help and Safeguarding Hub, (EHaSH) ensure that children receive a timely and proportionate response. Qualified social workers, supported by experienced managers, screen contacts carefully drawing on family history, previous referrals and a strengths-based practice model. They use strong analytical skills to recognise the impact of risk and harm. This results in confident, well-informed decision-making, effective information-sharing, and children receiving the right help at the right time. This is steadily reducing the number of children who are re-referred to children’s social care for the same reasons.

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protection: good

3. Professionally curious social workers in the EHaSH understand risk and need very well. Safety planning is explicit in initial decision-making where there are concerns for children’s safety. This includes careful mapping and drawing on wider family networks, using the existing support and relationships available for the child.

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protection: good

4. Multi-agency safeguarding enquiries are timely and detailed, and include the child’s voice wherever possible. Experienced emergency duty team social workers and managers provide effective out-of-hours responses. Integrated systems provide smooth handovers to daytime services.

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protection: good

5. When safeguarding concerns arise and the threshold is met to hold a strategy meeting, multi-agency partners consistently attend. Effective information-sharing

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protection: good

1 The areas for improvement have been cross-referenced with the outcomes, enablers or principles in the Children’s Social Care: National Framework . This statutory guidance sets out the purpose, principles for practice and expected outcomes of children’s social care. Inspection of Kingston Upon Hull local authority children’s services 2 to 13 March 2026 leads to clear safeguarding actions. Strong management oversight provides a transparent rationale for decisions and next steps. Child protection enquiries are undertaken appropriately, when required, are thorough and identify presenting risks and safety plans. Managers maintain strong oversight of children’s safety and progress, recording clear child-focused rationales in children’s records.

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protection: good

6. Assessments, including pre-birth work, are thoroughly balanced and clearly focused on each child’s needs and experience. Strong management oversight provides purposeful guidance to social workers during assessments, which strengthens professional curiosity and child-centred decision-making. Social workers understand children’s identities, cultural needs and family contexts, ensuring practice is inclusive of their needs. Parental views, including those of non-resident fathers and partners, are actively sought by social workers and meaningfully considered. Careful analysis draws together strengths and risks to inform proportionate, helpful interventions.

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protection: good

7. Family network meetings are increasingly used to support families in a coordinated way. These meetings are used effectively to strengthen the relationships between professionals and family members, while reinforcing expectations around the safety and supervision of children.

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protection: good

8. Decision-making for child protection enquiries is appropriate, and when they lead to an initial child protection conference, timely, multi-agency discussions take place to agree whether the threshold of significant harm is met. These meetings are well attended by parents and multi-agency partners. Records of meetings are detailed, and show how discussions use the practice model to explore family strengths and the development of effective safety plans, including contingencies.

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protection: good

9. Visits to children during assessments, and to those children supported through child in need or child protection plans, are purposeful and responsive to risk and need. Visiting frequency increases when concerns escalate. Social workers see children alone and create space for them to speak openly about their experiences. Strong, trusting relationships, built over time, enable sensitive, meaningful direct work. Children’s voices are central to planning and decision- making, helping them to understand what is happening and why.

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protection: good

10. Child in need and child protection plans are of good quality, including plans for disabled children. Plans set out clear, achievable actions that help families and their wider family networks understand what needs to change, and how they will be supported to improve their children’s safety and daily experiences. Multi- agency partners contribute well to the recognition of risk through regular attendance at child in need meetings and core groups. Risk and need are appropriately identified and progress is reviewed regularly. For most children and their families, plans end at the right time, reflecting sustained and positive change. Inspection of Kingston Upon Hull local authority children’s services 2 to 13 March 2026 11. The practice model is well embedded, supported by tools that help social workers assess risk and understand children’s lived experiences. This keeps children’s voices, needs and safety at the centre of all decisions. However, for a small

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protection: good

number of children, there was overoptimism about their progress. In these children’s cases, management oversight and the scrutiny of child protection conference chairs were not consistently robust. As a result, a small number of children’s plans were not always challenged effectively, and early signs of drift were sometimes missed, delaying the right action to be taken sooner to keep children safer.

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protection: good

12. The practice model is also well embedded within the Public Law Outline (PLO) and is used very effectively to manage risk to children when their circumstances do not improve. Senior leaders use decision-making panels effectively to ensure proportionate and timely escalation to the PLO. This reflects a significant strengthening of oversight since the last inspection. PLO processes are now very well managed with timely, clear and detailed letters before proceedings, focused PLO meetings with parents and clear plans of targeted work that set out what needs to change to improve children’s safety. Updated assessments add depth to decision-making, and ending letters clearly outline any support that is still needed. Where concerns persist, or progress stalls, senior leaders and managers act decisively, ensuring that children do not remain in harmful situations.

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protection: good

13. Children who are privately fostered receive an effective service. Timely assessments ensure that effective safeguarding checks are undertaken, and visits ensure that their living arrangements are safe. Young carers also receive a thoughtful and responsive service. Detailed assessments of their support needs identify what support they require. Plans ensure a wide range of help is available. Strong joint working between children and adult services ensures that young people’s needs are understood and well met beyond 18.

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protection: good

14. Services for 16- and 17-year-olds who present as homeless have strengthened significantly since the last inspection. Joint working with agency partners, such as housing and Targeted Youth Support, ensures a prompt, child-centred response. This includes sensitive efforts to support children’s safe reunification back to their families where appropriate and safe. Children are helped to understand their rights and the full range of options available to them, including becoming looked after.

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protection: good

15. The local authority designated officer (LADO) service provides robust, effective allegations management where there are concerns about adults working with children. Concerns are responded to promptly, with clear oversight by strong frontline managers. Well-established partner relationships have enabled a strengthened understanding of the LADO role across the partnership. This has created clear, confident referral pathways with a clear focus on children’s safety.

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protection: good

16. Children who are at risk of going missing or exploitation are well supported by the Vulnerable, Exploitation and Missing Person Team (VEMT). Return home Inspection of Kingston Upon Hull local authority children’s services 2 to 13 March 2026 interviews are timely, and the information is used appropriately. Mapping intelligence, direct work and effective multi-agency support are provided to children to help improve their safety by managing risk. Disruption activity is also undertaken as a significant part of this approach. This is increasing the safety of children by disrupting patterns of exploitation by perpetrators, which includes the use of appropriate orders and notices.

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protection: good

17. When children are at risk of entering into care through family breakdown, support is available through the provision of short breaks and support packages. This is a new support service for children and their families, and while in its infancy, is already leading to examples of support for reunification, or working with families and their networks to stabilise the home environment.

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protection: good

18. For children who are electively home educated, or may be missing education, the local authority has clear systems to track, monitor, assess and support them, ensuring stronger safeguarding. There is a well-understood strategy, a firm grasp of statutory duties, and clear expectations of schools, which together are strengthening and improving practice.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

19. Children come into care appropriately when risks cannot be safely managed at home. These decisions are supported by clear management oversight and strong evidenced-based assessments of children’s needs. Permanence is considered early and reviewed continuously, with the child’s voice shaping plans wherever possible. Effective and timely pre-birth assessment and planning results in decisive, well-planned hospital discharge arrangements, and timely permanence planning for newborns. Independent reviewing officers (IROs) provide rigorous scrutiny to ensure that children’s plans progress without delay.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

20. Exploration as to the child’s extended family and networks and swift viability assessments ensure that children remain within their networks when it is safe for them to do so. When this is not possible, children are carefully matched with carers who can meet their needs well. Legal proceedings are of consistently good quality, ensuring that children achieve secure legal permanence swiftly and without unnecessary delay. Reunification is continually assessed and supported for all children, where this is appropriate.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

21. When children are placed at home with their parents, assessments are robust, and for most children there are clear agreements in place, with good ongoing support and senior manager oversight. The potential to discharge care orders is considered in care planning meetings and progressed when it is safe and appropriate for the child.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

22. For children living with connected carers in unregulated arrangements, decisions, whether by court direction, or through local authority planning, are made firmly based on the child’s best interests. In line with national reforms that strengthen Inspection of Kingston Upon Hull local authority children’s services 2 to 13 March 2026 family networks and promote kinship care, special guardianship orders (SGOs) and child arrangement orders are actively pursued to secure children’s permanence within their family and community. SGO carers receive high-quality assessments and tailored support, underpinned by a clear policy that encourages these orders as a route to long-term stability, without ongoing statutory intervention. As a result, more children are achieving secure, lasting permanence within their family networks, with a strong ambition to keep children safe, connected and thriving within the relationships that matter most to them.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

23. A very small number of young children with complex needs have experienced multiple placement moves, disrupting their stability and sense of security. Senior leaders recognise the impact of this on children and are taking targeted action to strengthen placement stability. Work is under way to widen the choice of homes, improve learning from placement stability meetings, and enhance matching and decision-making. These actions form part of a much wider sufficiency strategy to secure the right home first time, and ensure that children with complex needs experience consistent, nurturing care.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

24. There has been significant growth in the number of local children’s homes. This is ensuring that children who need residential care live in good, safe and nurturing homes that keep them connected to their families and communities.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

25. Unlawful unregistered children’s homes are used only after other options have been exhausted and for a very small number of children. Where such arrangements are unavoidable, senior leaders provide enhanced support through their own staff, alongside agency staff, to increase continuity and safety for children. Ongoing searches for registered provision continue in parallel, supported by clear plans and strengthened mitigation of risk through additional visits and senior management scrutiny.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

26. Foster care has strengthened further since the last inspection. Children receive consistently good quality nurturing care. Foster carers are well trained, well supported, and increasingly confident in meeting the diverse needs of the children they care for. Strong and thoughtful matching and increased capacity mean that more children are living in homes that meet their needs. As a result, children benefit from stable, secure relationships and day-to-day care that promotes their safety and wellbeing.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

27. Children benefit from strong adoption practice through a productive working relationship with the Regional Adoption Agency (One adoption, North and Humber). Thoughtful matching and high-quality support to adopters are underpinned by early permanence planning and robust senior management oversight. Child permanence reports provide a clear, comprehensive and child- centred understanding of what type of family a child needs to feel safe and loved.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

28. Social workers know their children exceptionally well and speak about them with genuine warmth and pride. This strong relational practice is evident across the Inspection of Kingston Upon Hull local authority children’s services 2 to 13 March 2026 service, including for disabled children, where workers take time to understand each child’s unique strengths, communication style and lived experience. This care and attention is reflected in the quality of life-story work and virtual memory boxes, which children can own and contribute to. This strengthens children’s identity and sense of belonging. Children get to see and spend time with those who are important to them. Many live with their brothers and sisters, and family time is promoted, continually assessed and supported in line with children’s needs.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

29. Children’s plans are focused on each child’s individual strengths and identity. Social workers take time to understand what matters to children, and for those who are nonverbal using careful observation direct work and close liaison with the people who know them best. Children’s cultural needs, family heritage and unique identities are thoughtfully explored and well reflected in their assessments and plans. This strong, child-centred approach ensures that children’s voices are present, their uniqueness is celebrated, and their plans are shaped around who they are and what they need to thrive.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

30. For those children at risk of exploitation, and those children who go missing from care, they receive a strong, coordinated response that prioritises their safety and welfare. Social workers and partners work tirelessly to understand what is happening in children’s lives. They respond quickly to emerging risks and build trusting relationships that help children feel safer and stay connected to their carers. Robust multi-agency partnerships, timely information-sharing and well- coordinated risk management plans ensure that everyone participates in acting cohesively and with urgency. This means that risks are identified, early responses are swift, and children are supported by adults who know them well and are determined to safeguard them better.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

31. Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children benefit from a specialist through care team who work sensitively, with curiosity, and a holistic understanding of the trauma and loss that children have experienced. Social workers take time to build trust to help them understand each child’s story. They sensitively respond to their emotional, cultural and practical needs, with compassion and skill. Children live in safe, suitable local homes and are surrounded by adults and peers who understand their experiences and can meet their needs well. Safe connections are made quickly through college, local groups, and sports and community activities, helping children develop strong support networks and a sense of identity and stability. This relational strength-based approach ensures that children feel valued, safe, and able to look forward with hope.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

32. Looked-after children have their health needs well met, with regular health assessments. There is access to therapeutic, emotional and mental health support for looked-after children, further promoting their wellbeing. The virtual school is well aligned with schools; strong partnerships are supporting looked-after children’s educational needs, removing barriers to learning. Regular reviews of Inspection of Kingston Upon Hull local authority children’s services 2 to 13 March 2026 personal education plans (PEPS) and effective use of the pupil premium ensure that children are making progress in education.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: good

33. Children’s, hobbies, interests and achievements are supported, facilitated and celebrated. Their voices are heard through formal and informal channels. The looked-after children’s voice group is driving changes and shaping services for children in care and those who are care experienced. Advocacy is also available for children, ensuring there is the opportunity for all children’s voices to be heard.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

34. Care leavers benefit from highly skilled, persistent and deeply relational support from workers who know them exceptionally well. Personal advisers (PAs) remain unwavering in their commitment to them. This solid foundation of trust enables care leavers to feel valued, believed in and confident that the adults around them will not give up on them, even when life becomes difficult.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

35. PAs are allocated early to young people to allow for meaningful relationships to be formed before they transfer to the leaving care service. Disabled children, and those care leavers who have complex needs, experience thoughtful, well-planned transitions into adult services when they become care leavers.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

36. Children are well supported to move into independence at a pace that reflects their emotional readiness, practical skills and individual needs. ‘Staying put’ arrangements with foster carers, including kinship carers, are actively encouraged to provide an enduring home for young people post-18. There is an increasingly wide choice of appropriate and safe supported accommodation.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

37. The co-produced, comprehensive local offer is well publicised. Care leavers spoken to during the inspection told inspectors that they are encouraged and supported to access the parts of the offer that will benefit them. The local offer is thoroughly and routinely referenced and used by PAs in direct work. PAs ensure that their care leavers receive their entitlements, and encourage them to have opportunities to have positive experiences.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

38. Care leavers have access to an excellent central hub, ‘Room 42’. This valuable resource offers care leavers an anchor point, access to their PAs and other young people, reducing the risk of social isolation. This welcoming space enables care leavers to take part in organised activities, events and drop-in sessions. Through the hub, care leavers also have access to a psychologist and specialist partner agencies, ensuring that their emotional, physical and mental health needs are understood and responded to well. The dedicated staff who lead Room 42 are instrumental in helping care leavers to shape and strengthen the local offer as experts by experience.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

39. Care leavers spoke of their positive regard for their PAs, and the significance of the relationships they build with them. They describe kind, consistent and reliable Inspection of Kingston Upon Hull local authority children’s services 2 to 13 March 2026 workers who listen, encourage and believe in them, offering reassurance and praise that helps them feel seen and valued.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

40. Pathway plans are written collaboratively with care leavers and are clearly focused on their goals, strengths and aspirations. Their voices are integral to every plan. Strengths-based tools capture their own words and are helping them recognise their own progress. Regular reviews, reflective supervision and strong management oversight ensure that plans stay current, ambitious and firmly centred on what each young person needs.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

41. Separated migrant children believed to be under 18 are safeguarded well. Sensitive age assessments help to identify their needs and secure the most appropriate placements. Those over 18 receive skilled, compassionate support from a knowledgeable, dedicated team. Their cultural backgrounds, experiences and sensitivities are well understood, respected and actively addressed. This is ensuring they feel safe, welcomed and supported as they begin to rebuild their lives. A local charity provides critical legal advice and support with Home Office applications. Their expertise enables young people to navigate the complex asylum application process.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

42. The vulnerabilities of care leavers are exceptionally well understood by PAs who know their young people deeply and recognise the complexities of their lives. They are safeguarded well through skilled workers undertaking risk assessments to work together with strong multi-agency partnerships, to manage and reduce harm. Advocacy is promoted so that care leavers’ voices are strengthened and heard clearly in decisions that affect them. PAs are highly knowledgeable about risks such as exploitation, domestic abuse and mental health. They prioritise emotional wellbeing as a core part of their work. They help young people access a wide range of services, including social prescribing, breaking down barriers and ensuring that support feels accessible, responsive and centred on what each young person needs to feel safe and cared about.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

43. Care leavers who are parents are supported empathetically with the emotional and practical demands of young parenthood. A young parents group, run by a PA, provides an accredited programme to help young people develop skills and provides a further avenue of support.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

44. Care leavers who are in custody receive a strong and consistent offer of support from workers who know them well and understand their needs. They are visited regularly, offered emotional reassurance, and kept closely connected to the people who care about them. PAs visit their young people regularly, offering emotional reassurance. They maintain clear oversight of their progress and work in parallel with partners to plan carefully for their release. This is ensuring that young people return to the community with the right support, stability and opportunities to move forward positively. Inspection of Kingston Upon Hull local authority children’s services 2 to 13 March 2026 45. There is a strong, sustained focus on helping care leavers engage in education, employment and training, with support offered in many forms to match each young person’s goals and readiness. PAs champion young people’s ambitions,

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

helping some to thrive at university, supporting others to secure funding for college courses and apprenticeships, including opportunities within the council. Effective partnerships with the local college provide clear pathways into learning and employment, ensuring young people are encouraged, equipped and believed in as they take their next steps. The number of care leavers in Hull not in education, employment or training is reducing through the extensive, creative work undertaken.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

46. When young people cannot engage in employment, education or training, for whatever reason, they are supported by knowledgeable and proactive PAs to secure the correct benefits, financial support and entitlements. Opportunities and circumstances are reviewed on a regular basis and support provided, ensuring that no one is disadvantaged.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: outstanding

47. Care leavers continue to receive consistent relationship-based support post-21 should they wish to. Many adult care leavers choose to stay connected beyond 25 because of the trust and relationships they have built. Those who opt out of having a dedicated PA are provided with information about the pathways open to them. Recently, the service has recovered the archived histories of adults who were once in care, which is a powerful and compassionate act. Their childhood records have been digitised and many have been returned to the now adults. This demonstrates the deep commitment of senior leaders and PAs to reconnect people with their childhood stories and the decisions made about them. This work honours their identity, restores memories, and shows young people who are now adults that their lives, experiences and histories matter.

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families: outstanding

48. The director of children’s services (DCS) has created a highly competent and effective senior leadership team, characterised by an unrelenting focus on improving services for children, young people, care leavers and their families. Over the past 5 years, children’s services have grown from an inadequate service into safer, stronger and more consistent experiences and care for children. This progress has been achieved through a values-based, disciplined leadership, a clear improvement strategy and an unstinting focus on supporting families to improve children’s safety and wellbeing. A measured approach, informed by evidence, gleaned from testing and refining practice, has led to steady, sustained and embedded positive change over time for children and families.

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families: outstanding

49. Outstanding leadership has galvanised a strong multi-agency partnership, strengthened safeguarding arrangements, and created a cohesive approach to shared priorities. This is improving the lives of many children and families in Hull. Senior leaders have carefully crafted the environment to deliver the social care Inspection of Kingston Upon Hull local authority children’s services 2 to 13 March 2026 reforms effectively. Their approach has embraced the expectations of the reforms, while strengthening practice, particularly in relation to early help, family support and kinship. This has improved the support that children and families receive at the earliest stage.

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families: outstanding

50. The carefully planned progression of the Family First programme, with easily accessible locality based resources, delivered alongside key partners, is maximising community support and early help. Significant improvements in the quality of work undertaken in the PLO arena have secured timely legal permanence for children and have attracted exemplary feedback from the family courts, through the district family judge. This is a significant improvement on the last inspection.

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families: outstanding

51. Leaders know their service exceptionally well. They have decisively united the council around safeguarding, and the wellbeing of children, young people and care leavers as a shared priority. Their clarity of purpose, deep understanding of the service and relentless focus on what matters most has created a culture where children’s safety, stability and aspirations sit at the heart of every decision.

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families: outstanding

52. Inspectors did not find anything within senior leaders’ self-evaluation of their service that they had not already identified and had meaningful improvement plans to address. Leaders recognise and celebrate service and practice strengths, while rigorously identifying areas for development in line with clear improvement plans. Senior leaders are highly visible and credible and have created a culture of constructive challenge and accountability across the council where children are a priority and are central to decision-making.

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families: outstanding

53. The chief executive officer and elected members demonstrate strong, proactive corporate parenting and grandparent behaviours, with significantly improved oversight and scrutiny of children’s experiences. This clear commitment has strengthened further accountability across the council and led to continued financial investment and sustained improvements in children’s services.

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families: outstanding

54. Since the last inspection, there has been a significant improvement in how council leaders now have direct and meaningful contact with the workforce and with children. This is deepening their understanding of young people’s experiences, and strengthens their leadership insight. They take part in activities with children and young people and actively encourage children’s participation and influence in council business, helping to shape decisions across the organisation.

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families: outstanding

55. Senior leaders recognise the ongoing regional and national challenges in securing placements for children with the most complex needs. In response, they are developing meaningful, ambitious plans to increase placement sufficiency and create their own high-quality resources in Hull. There is a focus on effective prevention and use of family networks/kinship carers as part of an effective sufficiency approach. This proactive approach reflects a clear strategic vision and Inspection of Kingston Upon Hull local authority children’s services 2 to 13 March 2026 commitment to ensuring that their most vulnerable children can receive the right care close to home.

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families: outstanding

56. This is an outward-looking, learning leadership team with a clear appetite for reflection, curiosity and exploration. Its members actively invite external scrutiny to strengthen their practice and assure their progress. Their curiosity, transparency and commitment to continuous improvement are underpinned by a careful, evidence-informed approach to managing change. They ensure that change for their children and families, and for their workforce, is tested, sustainable and aligned with their strengths-based model to keep children safely within their families and communities wherever possible.

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families: outstanding

57. A significant improvement since the last inspection is how the leadership team has empowered managers and social workers to be their best for children. Learning from quality assurance activity and intelligent use of performance management information ensure that emerging themes are explored. Areas in need of additional resources or development are identified quickly and appropriate action plans put in place to address them.

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families: outstanding

58. Throughout this inspection, the voices of children and young people have shone brightly. They are listened to, respected, and have increasingly shaped their plans and some services. This represents a transformation since the last inspection.

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families: outstanding

59. Workforce stability and culture are also unrecognisable since the last inspection. There has been significant investment in the progression, development and innovative pathways into social work. The Social Work Academy has become a significant strength, supporting apprentices, new starters and the wider workforce. This is creating a skilled, future-proofed workforce. Recruitment and retention have improved markedly and agency use has substantially reduced since the last inspection.

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families: outstanding

60. Staff told inspectors that they feel valued and supported, and are proud of their work. Increased management capacity, stronger supervision and reduced caseloads are enabling social workers to deliver their best practice for children. Staff spoke with pride about their children and the families they support. They describe feeling safe, valued and enabled to do their best work. They are proud to belong to a service where their commitment, skill and care make a tangible difference to children and their families every day. Inspection of Kingston Upon Hull local authority children’s services 2 to 13 March 2026 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

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families: outstanding

training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council 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

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families: outstanding

information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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families: outstanding

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

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