Setting

Dawn Godfrey Executive Director of Children’s Services Delamare House, Floor 4 Delamere Street Crewe CW1 2JZ

p.1

Monitoring visit to Cheshire East children’s services

This letter summarises the findings of the monitoring visit to Cheshire East children’s services on 28 and 29 April 2026. This was the fourth monitoring visit since the local authority was judged inadequate in March 2024. His Majesty’s inspectors for this visit were Teresa Godfrey and Jane Ayres.

p.1

Areas covered by the visit

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

p.1

Areas covered by the visit

◼ The quality, consistency and responsiveness of support, advice and guidance for care leavers, including those who are homeless and for those who are over 21 years of age.

p.1

Areas covered by the visit

◼ Senior leaders’ quality assurance arrangements and oversight of performance.

p.1

Areas covered by the visit

◼ The quality of management oversight and supervision.

p.1

Areas covered by the visit

This visit was carried out in line with the inspection of local authority children’s services framework.

p.1

Headline findings

Following the inspection of children’s services in 2024, the pace of improvement had been hindered by instability in the senior leadership team and workforce challenges.

p.1

Headline findings

At the time of the third monitoring visit in October 2025, the executive director for children’s services and director of family help and social care had been joined by a director of quality, partnerships and commissioning. These permanent appointments have led to a more established senior leadership team, which continues to maintain a sharp focus on the quality of practice and has led to the development of new practice standards. The executive director is clearly sighted on the need to further Ofsted

p.1

Headline findings

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 Textphone 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.gov.uk/ofsted stabilise the workforce, and there is a strong commitment across the council to support children’s services. Further significant investment has led to increased staffing capacity in the care leavers’ service.

p.1

Headline findings

The quality of practice for care leavers has been strengthened since the last inspection, but it remains variable. For example, steady progress has been made in specific areas of practice, such as the service for care leavers aged over 21, accommodation sufficiency and care leaver participation. Some young people’s needs are understood and met well by personal advisers (PAs) who know them well. However, other care leavers do not benefit from proactive relationships with their PAs. These care leavers are not always receiving the support they need from their PAs to successfully move into adulthood and independence.

p.2

Findings and evaluation of progress

For most children aged 16 and 17 who are about to move out of care, their social workers know them well and speak about them with kindness and sensitivity. Social workers are aware of children’s needs as they move towards independence, and they make sure that their plans reflect this.

p.2

Findings and evaluation of progress

Most pathway plans for children aged 16 and 17 are co-produced with them and include their wishes and feelings. Independent reviewing officers (IROs) are trusted adults in children’s lives and encourage them to attend and contribute to their review meetings. Plans appropriately set out what needs to happen to prepare children for independence.

p.2

Findings and evaluation of progress

Not all children in care have the opportunity to get to know their PAs to build a relationship with them before reaching adulthood. Although there is an ambition to allocate a PA much earlier, this does not happen. This means that children are not always benefiting from careful transitions between the children in care team and care leavers’ service. As such, they sometimes leave care with too much uncertainty about how they will be supported. Leaders recognise this and have plans in place to further increase capacity in the leaving care service. It is too soon to see the impact of these planned changes.

p.2

Findings and evaluation of progress

Most care leavers benefit from the support of PAs who know them well and understand their life history. Some care leavers have strong, trusting relationships with their PAs, which are underpinned by culturally sensitive and trauma-informed practice. Young people are routinely visited by their PAs, who demonstrate an interest and professional curiosity in their day-to-day lives. Most visits to young people are clearly recorded and reflect their wishes and feelings well. Despite this, a small number of young people told inspectors that they had experienced variability in the levels of support they received and the quality of relationships with their PAs. All care leavers benefit from ongoing involvement from the IRO service, which maintains involvement with them up to the age of 21. This provides an opportunity for care leavers to retain trusted adults in their lives. The quality of pathway plans for care leavers is variable. Most plans acknowledge the

p.2

Findings and evaluation of progress

identity and cultural needs of care leavers and reflect their social and family networks. Most plans also contain appropriate actions linked to housing, employment education and training (EET), and health and emotional wellbeing. There is more to do to ensure that all care leavers benefit from ambitious, aspirational pathway plans that reflect their changing needs and circumstances. IROs are having an impact in improving the quality of pathway plans and on the engagement and involvement of young people aged under 21 in their pathway plan review meetings.

p.3

Findings and evaluation of progress

Young people’s EET needs are routinely discussed with them by their PAs during visits and review meetings. When care leavers are not in EET, their PAs work closely with the newly established EET team to identify barriers to engagement, and they develop realistic pathways into education, training or employment. Improvement work across post-18 EET is having a positive and increasingly measurable impact for care leavers. The specialist support being provided means that care leavers are experiencing more consistent levels of support and improved opportunities to progress into EET.

p.3

Findings and evaluation of progress

The health and emotional wellbeing needs of care leavers are considered in their pathway plans. For most young people, their physical and emotional health needs are well understood, and most are registered with GPs and dentists. When young people struggle with their mental health, they are encouraged to access support from specialist and universal services. Young people told inspectors that they particularly valued the support they were able to access through a specialist commissioned service, which provides counselling, practical support and mentoring.

p.3

Findings and evaluation of progress

The identification and response to vulnerable care leavers at risk has improved since the previous inspection. Most PAs are aware of, and alert to, care leavers’ vulnerabilities and risks. Some young people benefit from PAs who work closely with them to understand and reduce the risks they are experiencing. PAs complete standalone risk assessments, although these are of variable quality. For example, risk assessments do not routinely identify measures to reduce risk, outline contingency plans or identify the impact on the young person if risk does not reduce. Risk assessments and pathway plans are not aligned, and for some young people, they are not fully reflective of their needs. This means that not all vulnerable young people benefit from robust plans to address and reduce risk.

p.3

Findings and evaluation of progress

Care leavers in custody are visited by their PAs, although the frequency of visits and quality of support and planning are variable. Pathway plans for care leavers in custody are not fully reflective of their needs or circumstances and do not evidence what life in prison might be like for young people. There is more to do to ensure that the holistic needs of these young people are more carefully considered.

p.3

Findings and evaluation of progress

Support for former unaccompanied asylum-seeking children when they leave care has been strengthened. Care leavers now benefit from practical assistance and regular visits from specialist PAs who understand the asylum process and are focused on supporting them to achieve stability. PAs understand the trauma, loss and uncertainty that these young people have experienced and support them to access advocacy and emotional support. PAs understand the need for these young people to integrate and engage in their community, although for some young people it is difficult to see how they are helped to develop local networks of support.

p.3

Findings and evaluation of progress

Since the previous inspection, the local offer has been strengthened, and it is enabling young people to access more opportunities. The offer has been co- produced with young people, who can now access it via an app or through a QR code embedded in their pathway plans. Leaders have been determined in their efforts to ensure that young people’s access and understanding of the offer is improved. More young people access the full range of entitlements and services available to them. Care leavers are supported to access gym membership, free bus travel and driving lessons. Two care leaver hubs have opened since the inspection, and this means that care leavers now benefit from a dedicated space where they can meet, seek advice and do their laundry. All PAs spoken to by inspectors could describe the local offer and how they support young people to benefit from it.

p.4

Findings and evaluation of progress

When young people are not ready to live independently, they are supported to stay with their former foster carers under ‘staying put’ arrangements. Some young people benefit from ‘staying close’ support. Young people told us that these arrangements provide them with continuity of care, which helps them to prepare for adulthood.

p.4

Findings and evaluation of progress

Most care leavers are living in suitable accommodation. Leaders know that there is more to do to ensure that all care leavers are living in accommodation that meets their needs. Leaders have undertaken focused improvement work and invested in housing options to address historic weaknesses in housing arrangements for care leavers. This has included the introduction of the National House Project and the planned launch of 16 to 25 accommodation in July 2026. This means that there is now a broader range of suitable accommodation options available, which is an improvement since the last inspection. Nevertheless, some young people are living in unsuitable accommodation. Management oversight of these young people has been strengthened, and for some, this leads to their situations improving.

p.4

Findings and evaluation of progress

Most care leavers continue to benefit from leaving care support when they reach the age of 21. The service and practice for care leavers over the age of 21 have improved enormously since the inspection. Previously, when care leavers reached the age of 21, they were not provided with a PA or leaving care service, other than in exceptional circumstances. Now care leavers can continue to receive support from their PA beyond 21 or, when this is no longer required, they can move to a ‘21+ offer’, where they receive regular contact from a specialist PA. This means that care leavers can seek help and support should they need it. It also means that leaders can be more assured that young people are receiving the services they need.

p.4

Findings and evaluation of progress

PAs told inspectors that they have challenging workloads and that this impacts on the quality of their relationships with young people and the frequency of their contact with them. PAs described experiencing changes of manager and gaps in supervision. The frequency and quality of supervision is variable, and supervision records do not consistently reflect young people’s circumstances, vulnerabilities and needs. This has led to plans for some young people not being driven forward at pace and the quality of practice not always being effectively challenged.

p.4

Findings and evaluation of progress

The executive director and her team recognise that capacity and management instability have impacted the quality of practice and the pace of improvement in the care leavers’ service. Senior leaders welcome external scrutiny and have appropriate plans in place to further develop and embed improvements in practice and support for care leavers. Quality assurance arrangements have been strengthened; there is a new quality of practice framework, and practice standards have been introduced. This is starting to have an impact, although senior leaders know that there is more to do to develop and embed a strong performance culture.

p.5

Findings and evaluation of progress

More recently, capacity has been strengthened to increase the number of PAs and specialist posts, such as EET and housing advisers. Practice standards and guidance have recently been introduced across the workforce, and these clearly define the standard of practice and service that care leavers should expect. Inspectors have found that not all care leavers are receiving the quality of service they need in line with these new practice standards.

p.5

Findings and evaluation of progress

During this monitoring visit, inspectors spoke with young people and met a group of care leaver ambassadors. The ambassador roles have been introduced since the inspection and have strengthened participation and co-production. Ambassadors told inspectors that they valued their relationships with their PAs but added that not all had received a consistent and reliable service. They told inspectors that being an ambassador had been life changing for them. They spoke positively about having opportunities to influence services and support other care leavers. They felt they had ‘made a difference for others’ and told inspectors that ‘things in Cheshire East are changing slowly, but surely’.

p.5

Findings and evaluation of progress

I am copying this letter to the Department for Education.

p.5