Hertfordshire authority children’s services

Inspection of Hertfordshire authority children’s services

p.1

Lead inspector: Sophie Wales, His Majesty’s Inspector

p.1

Judgement Grade

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

p.1

Judgement Grade

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

p.1

Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of children in care Outstanding

p.1

Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of care leavers Good

p.1

Judgement Grade

Children and young people in Hertfordshire make very good progress, with most receiving the right support they need at the right time. Since the last inspection in 2023, senior leaders have continued their relentless ambition for children to thrive in Hertfordshire. Progress for children and families is sustained, and some areas of practice have further improved.

p.1

Judgement Grade

Alongside their work to ensure that children can remain safely with their families, leaders have developed a diverse and increasingly wide range of provision for children requiring care outside of their family home through their impressive sufficiency strategy. More children live in high-quality homes, close to their families and communities, cared for by skilled and able carers. More children are supported to return home safely through the well-regarded ‘Building Bridges’ service. This means that more children get the help when they need it and are supported by their family network where possible.

p.1

Judgement Grade

Leaders have created a culture in which staff members are valued, they can access a wide range of development opportunities and they can progress. These changes have led to a more permanent and resilient workforce, which means that most children and care leavers benefit from workers who know them well. Leaders know the quality and impact of services for children and young people very well. Leaders ensure that they listen to children and young people, whose voices are used to influence and shape service development. Inspection of Hertfordshire local authority children’s services 13 to 17 July 2026

p.1

What needs to improve?

◼ The timeliness and quality of referrals from partner agencies. (outcome 1, national framework) ◼ The timeliness of strategy meetings. (outcome 1, national framework) ◼ The quality and choice of housing for the most vulnerable care leavers, including for those in crisis or in an emergency. (outcome 4, national framework) ◼ The quality and consistency of recording of management oversight on children and young people’s records. (outcome 1, national framework)

p.2

protection: good

1. Children benefit from timely, well-organised and effective family help services in Hertfordshire. Contact and referrals for family help are overseen by capable managers, who apply clear direction for how children and families can be best helped. Full consideration is given to children’s histories and experiences in their decisions.

p.2

protection: good

2. High-quality family help assessments and plans are written directly to children, keeping children at the centre of practice. Family help assessments are detailed and draw on a range of information sources, including direct work completed with children to gather their voices. Family help practitioners are patient and determined in their engagement skills, ensuring that the foundations for a trusting relationship with families are built. Trauma-informed family help assessments consider strengths and risk factors. When concerns escalate, children are appropriately considered for statutory intervention to keep them safe.

p.2

protection: good

3. Management oversight of contacts and referrals for most children is timely, particularly for those children requiring an urgent safeguarding response. Support for these children is quickly progressed. Decision-making considers cumulative harm and the historical experiences of children and families. When children’s needs change, these are swiftly responded to by social work managers, and children receive a seamless response.

p.2

protection: good

3. Some contacts and referrals into the multi-agency safeguarding hub, ‘the Gateway’, are not sufficiently detailed to support clear decision-making. When delays occur, these mostly have regular management oversight, are proportionate and usually relate to the need for additional information. This means that decisions are informed, appropriate and made in the child’s best interests. Longer delays are due to the variable quality of contacts and referrals in which the nature and impact of the concern is not always made clear. This means that the Gateway workers must verify details of contacts and referrals, Inspection of Hertfordshire local authority children’s services 13 to 17 July 2026 including seeking the child’s voice, creating further pressures in the Gateway where demand is already high.

p.2

protection: good

4. Initial safety planning is discussed with families at an early stage to promote children’s safety while fuller checks are undertaken. Initial plans identify clear actions for families and wider practitioners to follow during this time.

p.3

protection: good

5. When referrals regarding domestic abuse have been received, practice is timely, curious and responsive. Social workers display a sound understanding of the impact of domestic abuse on children and parents and produce thorough analyses of risks and needs to inform next steps so that children are better supported and protected. Children and parents are promptly offered the help of an independent domestic abuse adviser when they have experienced domestic abuse. This is to help them navigate support during this vulnerable time of their lives.

p.3

protection: good

6. When children require help and protection out of hours, they mostly receive a timely and effective safeguarding response. An effective rapid response service ensures that its workers visit children and their families when they are in crisis, regardless of the time of day.

p.3

protection: good

7. Timely, well-attended multi-agency strategy meetings take place for most children. A wide range of partnership information is actively sought, which ensures a comprehensive understanding of risk and children’s experiences. Management summaries demonstrate thoughtful, diligent and proportionate decisions to enter child protection enquiries.

p.3

protection: good

8. Leaders have acted to address historical and more recent delays in convening strategy meetings due to lack of availability of partners to attend meetings in a timely way. When this delay has occurred for a small number of children who are not in immediate danger, or when no decision is made to hold a strategy meeting, managers do not always record why there is a delay or what the interim plan is to ensure children’s safety.

p.3

protection: good

9. Timely child protection enquiries ensure that immediate concerns for children’s safety are addressed. As part of the enquiries, children and their parents are seen frequently and their views sought through sensitive direct work. Comprehensive enquiries identify risks and protective factors for children and provide clear recommendations.

p.3

protection: good

10. Strong relational practice in the Family Safeguarding Service encourages parents to develop trusting relationships with social workers. Social workers understand parental challenges and work with them at a pace that parents can manage, when it is safe to do so.

p.3

protection: good

11. Children benefit from purposeful social work assessments, which are informed by their views and by professionals who know them. Children’s diverse needs Inspection of Hertfordshire local authority children’s services 13 to 17 July 2026 are considered to ensure that workers have a good understanding of children’s holistic needs.

p.3

protection: good

12. Children subject to child in need plans make positive progress. Social workers know their children in need well and describe them using affectionate, caring language. Social workers regularly undertake purposeful visits to children in need. This helps social workers understand children’s experiences very well. When children are too young to complete direct work with social workers, workers use their observation skills to help interpret the child’s world using descriptive language, detailing many parts of children’s lived experiences. This enriches child in need planning.

p.4

protection: good

13. Concise, clear and jargon-free child in need plans are effective in supporting the reduction of need and harm. Purposeful interventions support parents to make meaningful change, often when parents have experienced long-standing issues.

p.4

protection: good

14. When needs escalate, timely, well-attended initial child protection meetings take place. Child protection conferences minutes, written to the child, reflect the reasons and rationale for decisions made and result in unequivocal plans which set out what needs to be done to keep children safe.

p.4

protection: good

15. Children on child protection plans, including disabled children, are seen regularly and in line with their identified needs. Visits to children are purposeful and provide evidence of appropriate direct work with them to seek their views on their lived experiences. Family Group Conferences are used well to help identify family support networks and plan together to reduce risk to children.

p.4

protection: good

16. Recorded management oversight for disabled children on child protection plans is inconsistent. While supervision takes place regularly, there is limited evidence of management oversight and scrutiny of children’s progress. This is a missed opportunity to ensure that plans remain responsive to changing risk and need.

p.4

protection: good

17. For a very small number of children experiencing neglect, a lack of progress on child protection plans, due to parents’ inconsistent engagement with voluntary interventions, means that some children remain in these situations for too long.

p.4

protection: good

18. The Public Law Outline is implemented appropriately when there are serious concerns about a child’s safety or welfare. This is used well to divert children and families from care proceedings. When concerns escalate or further risk is identified, swift action is taken to issue care proceedings while maintaining support for parents in a kind and caring way. The quality of letters to parents has improved since the last inspection. They help parents to be clear about what they need to change to ensure that their children can remain living safely with them. The role wider family and friends can play to help safeguard children during this time is fully explored. Inspection of Hertfordshire local authority children’s services 13 to 17 July 2026 19. Children who go missing or who are exploited, including those who are in care, are swiftly identified as being vulnerable and are well supported. Comprehensive risk assessments are completed when children’s circumstances

p.4

protection: good

worsen or new threats emerge. These accurately identify the level of harm children are facing. Timely strategy meetings take place to consider risk and to engage partner agencies in appropriate planning, which effectively reduces risk to children.

p.5

protection: good

20. When children are identified as living in a private fostering arrangement, these arrangements are assessed and overseen by social workers who know them well. Awareness-raising of private fostering arrangements has resulted in partner agencies identifying when private fostering arrangements are taking place.

p.5

protection: good

21. When allegations are made against people who work with children, these are managed well and responded to in a timely way, with appropriate monitoring and recording in place to ensure full oversight. Sometimes, minutes of meetings are not always recorded and distributed within appropriate timescales to help partner agencies be clear about actions they are needed to complete.

p.5

protection: good

22. There are effective mechanisms in place for the identification and joint assessment of children aged 16 and 17 who may be homeless, or who are at risk of becoming homeless. When needed, these children are supported to access appropriate, timely accommodation, and staff work purposefully with children to support a return to their families when appropriate. Children are made aware of their rights to become voluntarily accommodated into local authority care. However, the recording of these conversations for some children can be overly formulaic. Stronger examples showed a thorough discussion of children’s options and voice, which is used to inform decisions about them. Children have not always been fully aware of their entitlement to have an independent advocate. Leaders have identified this and have recently taken proactive steps to strengthen the advocacy offer and make it more explicit for children.

p.5

protection: good

23. There is strong oversight of children who are electively home educated, children who are missing from education and children who attend school or alternative provision on a part-time basis. Staff work closely with families to make sure that elective home education is suitable, and they take steps to return children to a school roll when this is not the case. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive expert support from specialists.

p.5

protection: good

24. When older children face serious risks, excellent work is completed in the Specialist Adolescent Service Hertfordshire Team alongside the ‘Building Bridges’ team to support children on the edge of care. This includes effective use of family networks. Practitioners form trusting relationships with vulnerable Inspection of Hertfordshire local authority children’s services 13 to 17 July 2026 children and their families, using a strengths-based relational approach. Intensive support for families and their children is preventing children’s entry to care and the breakdown of family relationships.

p.5

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

25. Children come into care because their safety or welfare requires this. When children cannot remain safely at home, they move to homes that meet their needs and help them feel safe, secure and thrive. When possible, this is within children’s wider family networks. An increasingly high number of children enjoy living in such kinship arrangements.

p.6

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

26. Most children in care benefit from having consistent, enduring and trusting relationships with practitioners who know them very well, visit them regularly and spend time alone with them. Workers speak about their children with pride and with genuine warmth and affection. Through direct work and play, tailored to children’s specific needs, interests and level of understanding, workers are skilled in developing positive relationships with children so that children know that they have someone they can trust and rely on. Practitioners consistently visit and revisit family options, including when children can return safely home, to limit delay for children in securing permanent and stable homes.

p.6

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

27. For children who are unable to remain within their family network or return home, most quickly move into long-term foster care within Hertfordshire, where their needs are met to a high standard. Due to the progressive approach of leaders, intensive support arrangements are having a positive impact on carer resilience and placement stability. Children who have previously been cared for in residential settings also benefit from this intensive support, helping them to successfully transition into foster care.

p.6

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

28. For those children who need permanence, including adoption, practice is strong. Timely care planning supports children to move into stable, permanent homes. When possible, brothers and sisters remain living together. Careful and sensitive preparation and planning help children successfully make the transition into their forever family. When children have a plan for adoption, contact between adopted children and their birth parents is actively supported when this is in the child’s best interests.

p.6

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

29. Quality life-story work undertaken with children, which is regularly revisited as children get older, provides children with a clear understanding of their journey into care and their family background. This work helps children to understand their uniqueness and to feel proud of who they are.

p.6

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

30. Children’s records are sensitively written using caring language. This means that, for children in care who access their records as adults, they will read how they were supported by people who cared about them when they were younger. Inspection of Hertfordshire local authority children’s services 13 to 17 July 2026 31. Assessments of the needs of children in care are sensitively and warmly written. These are regularly updated and include the children’s views and consider all aspects of their life, what is working well and how their ongoing support needs can be met. When children in care are at risk, prompt action is taken to safeguard them.

p.6

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

32. Plans for children in care are comprehensive and consider the key aspects of a child’s life, including their health, education, emotional wellbeing, identity, family relationships and longer-term aspirations. Planning is strengths based, recognising and celebrating children’s achievements, progress and successes, alongside identifying areas where further support may be required. This helps to promote positive outcomes and reinforces children’s sense of identity, self- worth and achievement.

p.7

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

33. Children are supported to attend their child in care reviews and are visited regularly by their independent reviewing officers (IROs), who know them well and who advocate on their behalf. IROs write sensitive summaries to children following reviews, detailing the reasons decisions are made and confirming what actions adults in their lives are taking to help them achieve their goals and aspirations.

p.7

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

34. Children in care are supported by their carers and social workers to spend meaningful time with the people who are important to them. Family time arrangements are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain safe, appropriate and in line with children’s wishes and feelings. Through the Lifelong Links service, some children have been supported to re-establish relationships with people who are important to them, much to their delight and enhanced emotional wellbeing. These enduring relationships provide children with emotional security, warmth and shared positive experiences.

p.7

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

35. Children in care are supported by carers and social workers to maintain connections with their cultural heritage. This includes cooking meals from their cultural background, language lessons and religious celebrations. Children are supported to remain connected to their origins and foster a sense of pride and belonging in who they are and where they are from, which enhances their mental wellbeing.

p.7

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

36. Separated migrant children in Hertfordshire live in homes that meet their needs. They are supported by capable, culturally informed practitioners who know their children well. They ensure that children’s educational, emotional, social, health, religious and immigration needs are fully considered. As a result, they have positive experiences.

p.7

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

37. Children in care enjoy a range of age-appropriate and enriching activities, including music, police cadets, scouts, swimming lessons, basketball and Inspection of Hertfordshire local authority children’s services 13 to 17 July 2026 performing arts. As a result, children’s confidence is increased and they have a sense of community and of achievement.

p.7

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

38. Children’s physical and emotional health needs are well met. Initial and ongoing health reviews are mostly timely, and children’s therapeutic needs are appropriately responded to. Leaders have invested in a local specialist home to provide good expert care for children with the most complex mental health needs. Children in the home have made impressive progress, and risks to them reduce as a result.

p.8

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

39. Virtual school leaders are ambitious and consistently prioritise educational attendance and positive outcomes for children in care. Children with additional needs are well supported. While leaders recognise that there is more work to do to ensure that personal education plans (PEPs) are of a consistently high quality, leaders make sure that PEPs reflect children’s age and stage of development and take account of their interests and aspirations. Staff work closely with schools to develop practice and ensure that plans are realised. Beyond the academic, the virtual school provides an ambitious enrichment offer that promotes children’s personal development and offers memorable experiences.

p.8

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

40. Due to the extended range of in-house care provision, the use of unregistered, illegal children’s homes is rare in Hertfordshire. Children are only placed in these homes when other suitable options have been exhausted. On these exceptional occasions, such arrangements were for short periods, and/or pending Ofsted registration, with robust strategic and operational oversight of children’s welfare and safety.

p.8

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

41. Some older children in care aged 16 and 17 live in supported accommodation when it has been assessed that they no longer need care but would benefit from ongoing support before they move into adulthood. Effective IRO oversight and multi-agency support packages, informed when required by risk assessments and plans, help to ensure that these children’s needs are met.

p.8

The experiences and progress of children in care: outstanding

42. Leaders take account of the important voice of children in care. Children’s views shape and develop plans for children, such as the design and development of ‘coming into care’ packs. Children told inspectors that they thoroughly enjoy being part of the children in care council, as it gives them an opportunity to make a difference and enables them to develop friendships and socialise with peers who have shared experiences. It also enables them to have new experiences and enjoy a range of activities and trips that are fun and exciting.

p.8

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

43. Care leavers are provided with support from their personal advisers (PAs) well before they reach adulthood, enabling them to develop meaningful relationships as they get older. Care leavers are supported to develop Inspection of Hertfordshire local authority children’s services 13 to 17 July 2026 independent living skills. Leaders are taking active steps to further strengthen independent living support for care leavers by developing accessible digital platforms and providing care leavers with an extensive range of independent living skills tools.

p.8

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

44. PAs act as strong and protective advocates for care leavers and demonstrate purposeful relationship-based practice from the earliest point of working with them. The quality of these relationships is evident throughout case records, with PAs providing practical, emotional and advocacy support to help care leavers build confidence, overcome barriers and work towards achieving their goals and aspirations.

p.9

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

45. Care leavers are seen regularly in accordance with their individual needs. PAs support young people with routine and emergency appointments and provide ongoing support and encouragement.

p.9

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

46. Increasingly, care leavers are supported to connect or reconnect with people who are important to them. The Lifelong Links service is having a very positive impact for care leavers, resulting in wider support networks and a sense of belonging to their communities and family.

p.9

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

47. Most pathway plans are timely and reflect care leavers’ needs and circumstances, resulting in plans that help them achieve their goals. Some weaker plans show limited consideration of the support that may be required to help young people achieve their long-term goals. Management oversight of plans is sometimes delayed. While this does not prevent agreed actions being completed, managers cannot always be assured of the progress of care leavers in their service.

p.9

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

48. Care leavers are aware of their entitlements through the Leaving Care Offer, which includes access to a wide range of support, including driving lessons and driving tests, reduction in council tax and access to free bus passes. This helps care leavers with their independence and, when needed, free access to education, employment or training opportunities that may be some distance away.

p.9

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

49. Care leavers continue to receive high-quality support after the age of 21. When care leavers become 21 years old, conversations and discussions take place in advance of their birthday to obtain their wishes about receiving ongoing support, which continues to be provided where this is needed.

p.9

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

50. Former separated migrant children’s experiences are understood well. Their PAs provide consistent support as they help separated migrant children navigate complex immigration processes, including access to legal advice and support relating to their immigration status. PAs are highly ambitious for care leavers and help them to access suitable housing, education, training, employment opportunities and resources within their local communities. Inspection of Hertfordshire local authority children’s services 13 to 17 July 2026 51. For care leavers who are not in employment, education or training (NEET), appropriate support is provided from agencies who work well together to ensure that care leavers have access to the right opportunities. The service is aspirational for care leavers, encouraging them to access a range of development opportunities and providing them with guidance and practical support.

p.9

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

52. PAs are tenacious in maintaining contact with care leavers who are NEET with a determined approach to getting them restarted when the time is right. Leaders work closely with care leavers to understand needs and circumstances and make sure that the support is targeted precisely, and employment, education or training (EET) figures are improving. This includes a dedicated care leaver project to overcome barriers to EET.

p.10

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

53. When care leavers need support with their physical or mental health needs, they receive strong advocacy and support from their PAs, who work closely with health professionals to ensure that any outstanding needs are met. When adult services (0 to 25) are involved because of complex mental health needs, regular network meetings are held to ensure that the team around the young person is clear about the support being offered and the plan of action.

p.10

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

54. When care leavers apply for their own tenancies, some have limited choices as to where they can live, which can impact on their sense of belonging in local communities, their ability to maintain local connections and choices of education settings if they must travel further. Care leavers have told leaders this, and, as a result, leaders have recently developed a housing oversight board to ensure a joined-up strategic approach with district councils to address this problem.

p.10

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

55. Vulnerable care leavers who are at risk receive mostly effective multi-agency help and support. Regularly updated risk assessments and plans help to ensure that they mostly receive the right help and support to mitigate risks.

p.10

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

56. Several forums oversee and respond to risky situations for care leavers who have complex needs, including a very small number who present as homeless or at risk of homelessness. Leaders had recognised prior to the inspection that they had not had sufficient impact or oversight of these housing arrangements and are working to resolve this.

p.10

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

57. Some PAs work tirelessly to support care leavers with their accommodation issues and advocate for them, even when care leavers’ engagement is intermittent.

p.10

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

58. Care leavers who are parents receive positive and purposeful support from their PAs, who know them well, helping them to be proud parents. Care leavers access support through the very well-regarded Ohana group for care leavers who are parents. Inspection of Hertfordshire local authority children’s services 13 to 17 July 2026 59. Care leavers in custody receive regular visits from their PAs, who also liaise effectively with professionals to help meet their ongoing needs within the custodial estate. For a very small number of care leavers, the lack of suitable accommodation on their release increases their vulnerability.

p.10

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

60. PAs told inspectors they feel well supported by their managers. They have manageable workloads and are supported to access a range of development and training opportunities. PAs receive regular supervision, which takes place more frequently when risks or hazards are identified for care leavers, although the quality of supervision is variable. Stronger examples of supervision encourage curiosity and reflection and a regular review of actions.

p.11

The experiences and progress of care leavers: good

61. Care leavers are regularly consulted about how to develop services further and in the employment of staff and leaders. Care leavers have advocated for community ‘pop-up hubs’, with plans to develop these across the county to tackle social isolation and loneliness for care leavers, which is a key issue raised by care leavers to leaders.

p.11

families: outstanding

62. Remarkable leaders have sustained the quality and impact of practice for children in Hertfordshire. Leaders demonstrate strong and insightful practice, with an unwavering ambition for continuous improvement and a culture of high support and high challenge.

p.11

families: outstanding

63. Political and corporate support, with ongoing significant investment in children’s services, is ensuring the most vulnerable children are protected and heard.

p.11

families: outstanding

64. Leaders take their responsibilities as corporate parents seriously, discharging their duties through an active corporate parenting board, and listening and being accountable to children and care leavers. Importantly, children’s voices are used to inform and shape services, and the children inspectors met were proud of the genuine contribution they are making.

p.11

families: outstanding

65. The director of children’s services has been relentless in her pursuit of excellence, ensuring that Hertfordshire is given the platform to inform and influence high-quality practice across the sector, including participating in sector improvement.

p.11

families: outstanding

66. Leaders are proud of their achievements but are equally clear about areas where improvement is needed, using a wide range of audit and performance information to understand and take practice forward. Leaders have been sighted on all areas identified for development, taking pre-emptive and determined action to address issues when they have arisen, thereby improving children’s experiences as a result. Inspection of Hertfordshire local authority children’s services 13 to 17 July 2026 67. Leaders identify and understand risks and needs of vulnerable children, including exploitation, vulnerability to county lines and mental health challenges. They have invested heavily in targeted services and strong partnerships that make a difference for children and families.

p.11

families: outstanding

68. Supporting care leavers remains a key priority. Leaders are ambitious about improving their housing choices and building on the success already achieved in care leavers entering EET.

p.12

families: outstanding

69. Leaders ensure children are supported to remain with their families whenever possible. Children are supported to forge links with people who are important to them and reconnect with people who have mattered to them throughout their lives.

p.12

families: outstanding

70. Support to help children to return to their parents and wider family is exemplary. Leaders have taken a clear position on the use of unregistered provision for children in care. On the very rare occasion this is used, it is for the shortest time possible, with strong oversight of the care and progress of children.

p.12

families: outstanding

71. Leaders have shaped and developed work with children and families to reduce need and harm and provide effective support through the Families First Partnership Programme. Hertfordshire leaders are influencing practice as early adopters of the children’s social care reforms.

p.12

families: outstanding

72. There is a strong commitment to workforce development and inclusion, supported by stable staffing, strong teamwork and a range of staff recognition and wellbeing initiatives. Leaders foster a culture of belonging. Leaders continue to develop and invest in the workforce through manageable workloads, cohesive teams and a sense of belonging and of value.

p.12

families: outstanding

73. Workers receive regular case and personal supervision, and while this can be variable in its quality and impact, leaders are sighted on improving this quality.

p.12

families: outstanding

74. There is a strong approach to ensuring diversity and inclusion in Hertfordshire. Leaders’ commitment to the social care workforce race equality standards secures the authority’s firm stance on race equality and anti-racist practice. Workers from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds said they feel supported working for Hertfordshire.

p.12

families: outstanding

75. Partnership working across Hertfordshire is a notable strength, but there is more to do to hold strategic partners to account. The provision of suitable long- term accommodation for care leavers, particularly for those in crisis, where they can maintain access to their local communities, and education provision, is now essential. Additionally, ensuring partnership engagement in the timely sharing of information and decisions needed to keep children safe is critical. Strengthening the quality and timeliness of referrals to children’s social care will enable children’s needs to be met promptly. Inspection of Hertfordshire local authority children’s services 13 to 17 July 2026 76. Leaders actively demonstrated their child-centred approach and commitment to continuous improvement throughout the inspection.

p.12

families: outstanding

77. Strong relational, respectful practice by practitioners between each other, parents, carers, children and young people means that trusting relationships develop, engendering a culture in which people feel safe and secure. Children benefit from workers who know them well. Workers said they trust leaders and how much they enjoy working in Hertfordshire as a result. Inspection of Hertfordshire local authority children’s services 13 to 17 July 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 training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council

p.13

families: outstanding

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 .

p.14

families: outstanding

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

p.14