Dudley local authority children’s services

Inspection of Dudley local authority children’s services

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Lead inspector: Teresa Godfrey, His Majesty’s Inspector

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Judgement Grade

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

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Judgement Grade

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

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Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of children in care Inadequate

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Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of care leavers Inadequate

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Judgement Grade

Services for children in Dudley have deteriorated since the inspection in 2022. Progress has not been made in the identified areas for improvement. This inspection found that, for too many children, ineffective and, for some children, unsafe practice and an absence of effective management oversight have resulted in them living in circumstances of risk for too long. Significant improvements in the quality of core social work practice, including assessments and planning for children, and the management oversight of practice, are required.

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Judgement Grade

The lack of stable leadership during the past 5 years coupled with staffing reductions and reduced capacity have been barriers to progress. Although a permanent director of children’s services (DCS) was appointed in November 2025, his ability to deliver change is and has been impacted by the absence of an effective permanent senior leadership team and insufficient operational workforce capacity.

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Judgement Grade

Senior leaders and elected members understand that significant and sustainable change is needed. The DCS has an informed understanding of the areas for improvement, and there has been a recent commitment to investment in children’s services. There are credible improvement plans in place, but these are yet to have impact, and substantial change is needed in order for children’s services to deliver effective help, protection and care services. Inspection of Dudley local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ The response to children at the front door and out of hours. (Outcome 3, national framework)

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ The quality, consistency and timeliness of assessments and plans for children and families. (Outcome 3, national framework)

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ The quality of visits to children and families. (Outcome 3, national framework)

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ The response to homeless children. (Outcome 3, national framework)

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ Participation opportunities for children in care and care leavers. (Principle 2, national framework)

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ The effectiveness of child protection chairs and independent reviewing officers. (Outcome 3, national framework)

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ The quality of supervision and management oversight of children and young people. (Enabler 2, leaders drive conditions for effective practice, national framework)

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ Effective strategic and operational partnership working. (Enabler 1, multi-agency working is prioritised and effective, national framework)

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ Senior leaders’ oversight of children’s arrangements and the quality and impact of practice. (Enabler 2, leaders drive conditions for effective practice, national framework)

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What needs to improve? 1

◼ Workforce sufficiency. (Enabler 3, the workforce is equipped and effective, national framework)

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protection: inadequate

1. The quality of professional contacts and referrals to the multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH) is poor, and they are not always timely. Referrers, particularly from health and education, do not routinely consider whether a child’s circumstances merit social care involvement and do not clearly outline their concerns. This results in delays in children’s needs being identified. Equally, powers of police protection are not always used in the best interests of children. Leaders do not challenge partners on their actions, or the quality of

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protection: inadequate

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 Dudley local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 their referrals, and too many are accepted. This impacts on capacity, timeliness and proportionality of response for children.

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protection: inadequate

2. There are delays at all stages of decision-making in the MASH. Managers and advanced practitioners have oversight at key decision points; however, timescales set in line with presenting risks and need are not adhered to. There are delays in social workers triaging contacts. For some children, at the time of this inspection, alternatively qualified workers were inappropriately undertaking social work screening. For some children, risk is not identified, resulting in poor decision-making and children living in unsafe situations. Thresholds for intervention are applied inconsistently.

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protection: inadequate

3. For some children, where the need for targeted and early help is identified, experienced family support workers carry out purposeful direct work. Interventions and plans are making a positive difference to their lives.

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protection: inadequate

4. The response to children who go missing and are at risk of exploitation is insufficient, and risks are not reducing. Some children experience multiple referrals to the MASH, and their needs are not being met at the earliest opportunity.

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protection: inadequate

5. Once a decision has been made in the MASH that the threshold is met for statutory children’s services involvement, there are delays in some children progressing for assessment by a social worker.

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protection: inadequate

6. The emergency duty team is not consistently effective at safeguarding children out of hours.

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protection: inadequate

7. There are delays in the response to children who are at risk of significant harm. The quality and timeliness of strategy discussions are inconsistent. Child protection enquiries are thorough; however, there are delays between strategy meetings taking place, the completion of child protection enquiries and initial child protection conferences taking place. During this time, plans are not consistently being put in place to safeguard children.

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protection: inadequate

8. The quality of assessments of children’s needs undertaken by social workers, including those for disabled children, is inconsistent. Stronger assessments reflect children’s views and consider family history. However, too many are not timely and lack analysis. Children and families do not benefit from intervention during the assessment, and this means that they must wait to receive the support they need. Assessments are not updated as children’s needs and circumstances change, and for some children, involvement ends without the identified support being put in place.

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protection: inadequate

9. For children in need and those subject to child protection plans, the quality of their plans is poor. Plans are focused on completing actions and monitoring activity rather than on supporting families in achieving meaningful change and improving children’s experiences. Inspection of Dudley local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 10. Child protection conferences, core groups and child in need reviews take place regularly, most with appropriate partner agency representation. However, partners do not review progress or challenge when plans are not working. Child protection chairs and independent reviewing officers (IROs) do not provide meaningful oversight of children’s circumstances and plans. As a result, children experience drift and delay, their circumstances do not improve and some live in situations of risk for too long.

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protection: inadequate

11. Social workers visit children regularly. However, visits to children are not consistently purposeful and intervention does not routinely result in progress being made.

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protection: inadequate

12. Some children experience multiple periods of child protection planning and intervention and live in unsuitable conditions for too long. When risks escalate and children are not being effectively safeguarded by a child protection plan, there are delays in children being considered at legal gateway meetings. Once a decision is made to enter the pre-proceedings phase of the Public Law Outline, systems to monitor and review are ineffective and some children continue to experience drift and delay.

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protection: inadequate

13. The quality of pre-proceedings letters is poor. They do not set out succinctly and clearly for parents what the concerns are and what they must do to address them to improve children’s circumstances.

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protection: inadequate

14. There is insufficient strategic and operational management oversight of children in need, those subject to child protection plans and those in the pre- proceedings phase of the Public Law Outline. Leaders are aware that the current systems are not robust and have plans in place to improve them. Nevertheless, too many children experience drift and delay and social work intervention without their circumstances improving and risks reducing.

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protection: inadequate

15. There are significant weaknesses in the response to 16- and 17-year-olds presenting as homeless. Not all children who present as homeless receive a timely response or are made aware of their rights and entitlements. This results in delays in vulnerable homeless children receiving the support they need. Leaders recognise that the application of the current joint protocol and practice are not robust, and these are currently under review.

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protection: inadequate

16. The very small number of children living in private fostering arrangements are visited regularly and receive an effective response. Leaders are aware that there is more to do to promote awareness and identification of private fostering arrangements in the partnership and wider community.

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protection: inadequate

17. Processes to identify and respond to the needs of young carers are significantly underdeveloped in Dudley. This means that young carers do not benefit from an effective and coordinated response to their needs.

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protection: inadequate

18. The designated officer service in Dudley responds promptly and robustly to concerns about adults in a position of trust, who present risks to children. Inspection of Dudley local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 19. There are effective arrangements in place to identify, track and support children missing education in Dudley. Tracking systems ensure that sharing of information is timely, and there is a vigilant level of focus on safeguarding concerns.

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protection: inadequate

20. There is limited oversight of home-educated children. Leaders cannot be assured that risks are being considered and addressed or that these children are receiving a suitable education.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

21. A lack of early support when families are in crisis has resulted in some children coming into care when this could have been prevented. For some children, the decision to bring them into care is not timely and should have happened sooner. However, when children do become looked after, it is the right decision.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

22. Children are supported to remain in the care of their family members, including through kinship arrangements. For some children, arrangements are not thoroughly assessed, expectations are not sufficiently communicated to carers and children are not visited regularly. There is insufficient oversight of these children, and the local authority cannot be satisfied that they are living in secure and appropriate homes.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

23. Children in care are helped to maintain relationships with those people who are important to them, including brothers, sisters, wider family and previous carers. Children live with their brothers and sisters when possible. This promotes their sense of identity and connection with their family members.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

24. The frequency of visits to children, including disabled children in care, is not always in line with their needs. Records of visits are clear in their observations of children and capture the warmth and humour in social workers’ relationships with them.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

25. Some children have experienced multiple changes in social worker, and this impacts the quality of relationships and social workers’ understanding of children’s experiences and needs.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

26. Social workers do not consistently carry out direct work, and children are not helped to understand their childhood experiences at the earliest opportunity.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

27. Assessments of children in care are updated and reviewed on a regular basis. Social workers consider children’s needs, and assessments capture children’s wishes and feelings. Assessments inform care plans, which mostly set out future plans for children. However, children’s plans are not routinely timebound and are insufficiently focused on supporting them to achieve permanence and stability. Inspection of Dudley local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 28. Children are encouraged to contribute to their plans and reviews. Most reviews for children in care are regular and well attended. IROs do not consistently engage children outside of their review process and do not demonstrate a strong professional investment in their progress. Midpoint reviews do not provide effective oversight and scrutiny of children’s plans. IROs are not effectively holding professionals to account, and their oversight is not reducing

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

29. Many children live in secure and settled homes with carers who meet their needs. Children are supported to pursue their hobbies, interests and talents, building their confidence and self-esteem.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

30. Many children in care live in homes outside of the local area. For these children, the lack of local availability is the determining factor in their living out of area rather than this being the best choice for them. This means that for many children, their education, social and family networks are disrupted due to local placement insufficiency. The frequency of social workers’ visits to children living outside of the local area is impacted by capacity rather than determined by children’s needs.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

31. Some children are placed with carers who do not have the skills to meet their needs. When children’s living arrangements become fragile and are at risk of breaking down, there is an absence of effective support. For some children, this results in them experiencing instability through multiple moves.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

32. When children are placed with their parents on a care order, legal permanence is not always achieved in a timely way. This means that children and families continue to be subjected to unnecessary statutory intervention. Leaders were aware that strategic oversight of these children is underdeveloped.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

33. For children with a plan for adoption, high-quality child permanence reports provide comprehensive information about their history. Reports are analytical and make appropriate recommendations. For a small number of children with a plan for adoption, foster placement breakdowns during family finding result in delays in prospective adoptive placements being secured.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

34. Social workers take an active interest in children’s educational attainment and experiences. Children are encouraged and supported to make progress in their learning. School attendance and attainment are prioritised and promoted by carers and social workers, and achievements are positively recognised. The virtual school is effective and makes a demonstrable difference to the educational outcomes, experiences and life chances of children in care.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

35. Children are supported to access appropriate healthcare by their carers. Their health needs are reviewed annually and the outcome of these, and any changes, are used to inform their care planning and child in care reviews. Children’s complex health needs are appropriately met by specialist services. Most children’s emotional needs are well understood, and they are supported to Inspection of Dudley local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 access a range of services, including the effective in-house emotional wellbeing service.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

36. The response to children who are at risk from harm outside the family or who go missing is ineffective. Children do not benefit from specialist interventions, and return home interviews are not routinely undertaken. For these very vulnerable children, risks are not understood or reduced.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

37. Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children receive effective support. Their religious and cultural needs are recognised, and practitioners are sensitive to their experiences and the trauma they have suffered.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

38. A very small number of children have been placed in illegal unregistered children’s homes. Management oversight of these children, and those who are subject to deprivation of liberty orders, has not been consistently strong. New arrangements have been implemented to strengthen oversight, but leaders have not been assured that these children are safe.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

39. The Children in Care forum gives some children the opportunity to share ideas about how they can help shape and influence the support and services being provided to them. Leaders know that there is more to do to broaden participation opportunities for children.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

40. Planning for children to move into semi-independent living arrangements at 16 and 17 is inconsistent and does not ensure they have the relevant life skills to live more independently.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

41. There is a renewed focus on recruiting more foster carers and improving retention of in-house carers in Dudley. Most foster carers are visited in line with statutory requirements, but many have significant gaps in their mandatory training. Leaders are aware that there is more to do to ensure that there are sufficient skilled carers to meet the needs of children in Dudley.

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The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

42. The regional adoption agency (adoption@heart) provides recruitment, assessment and support services to adopters. There is a comprehensive offer of support and training available to adopters from the earliest stages of the process. Adoption social workers know their carers well and build trusting and supportive relationships. Effective joint working between adoption and children’s social workers supports babies and children to settle with their new families.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

43. Not all children in care have the opportunity to get to know their personal advisers (PAs) to build a relationship with them before they are 18 years old. Planning for children who transition to the leaving care service is not always robust. This means that some young people leave care with too much uncertainty about how they will be supported. Inspection of Dudley local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 44. Most care leavers have PAs who are in touch with them regularly. However, the frequency of contact does not adapt in line with young people’s risk and changing need. The recording of visits lacks analysis or next actions. PAs told inspectors that their workload impacts their ability to respond to young people.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

45. Not all PAs know their young people well enough to have trusted and meaningful relationships with them. For some young people, PAs do not know their stories of why, or when, they came into care.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

46. Pathway plans do not consistently cover the important elements of young people’s lives. Plans are not routinely updated and do not accurately reflect young people’s situations, goals and aspirations. Actions are rarely timebound, and plans are not effective in helping young people to make meaningful change in their lives. Young people do not always receive a copy of their plan, limiting their ability to easily access information about their entitlements and the services available to support them.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

47. For some care leavers, risks are recognised and managed effectively. For other young people, there is a lack of professional curiosity about their day-to-day lives. This has resulted in a lack of action and recognition of how best to support young people when they are at their most vulnerable.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

48. PAs spoken to by inspectors knew about the local offer to care leavers and could explain how they could benefit from it. Many young people make good use of the local offer, such as the setting up home grant, exemption from council tax, prescription and dental costs. Young people are supported to access the gym, leisure facilities and bus travel. PAs could not describe how they supported and advocated on behalf of care leavers whose needs are not being met by the offer. Leaders acknowledged that there are some gaps in the current offer and have plans in place to review it. At the time of this inspection, some young people could not access the resources they need to improve their life chances.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

49. Many care leavers are living in suitable and stable accommodation that meets their needs. Young people are actively supported to stay put with their carers post-18, when it is in their best interests to do so. For care leavers who live out of the area, they continue to receive visits from their PA but are not able to benefit from many aspects of the local offer. The local authority is planning to increase the number of accommodation options available to young people so they have more choice about where they live.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

50. When care leavers reach the age of 21, the majority are no longer provided with a PA or leaving care services. This includes young people with unmet needs, who would benefit from further support. Keeping in touch arrangements with young people over the age of 21 are poor, and the recording of decisions to cease support to young people is weak. The rationale for decisions to end services does not provide assurance that needs and risks have been addressed. At the time of this inspection, there was a very large number of young people Inspection of Dudley local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 in this category. Some of these care leavers have not been receiving the services they need, or are entitled to, and the local authority cannot be assured that they are safe.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

51. Care leavers in custody are not all visited in line with their needs. Some care leavers in custody experience gaps in support due to service capacity. For care leavers who are parents, their PAs recognise their additional vulnerabilities but do not support them to meet their needs effectively.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

52. Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who become care leavers receive support from PAs, who are sensitive to their emotional wellbeing and support their cultural and identity needs.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

53. Care leavers can access community-based resources. Senior leaders recognise that they do not have a dedicated safe space for young people to meet. The local authority has recently opened weekly drop-in facilities, which many young people are attending and value. Plans are in place to open a care leavers’ hub, but at present this is not available.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

54. Care leavers are registered with GPs and dentists, and their PAs support them to attend appointments if required. Some young people benefit from bespoke emotional support provided by the emotional wellbeing service.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

55. Care leavers are supported to attend and achieve in education and to re- engage when plans change. When young people attend higher education, they are well supported practically and financially to enable them to focus on their education without additional worries. An employment, education and training focused PA has been recently appointed and is ambitious for young people, but it is too early to see the impact of this role.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

56. Creative use is made of the leaving care grant for children with complex needs and disabilities, who are unable to live independently. This supports them to access sensory equipment and bespoke furnishings to enhance their living environment. For other young people, there is variability in how well prepared they are for independent living.

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The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

57. The young people that inspectors spoke to were positive about their PAs. Some attend council forums and national groups to help present care leavers’ views, helping to build their skills and confidence. Senior leaders are aware that there is more to do to strengthen participation opportunities for care leavers.

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families: inadequate

58. Senior leaders demonstrate an informed understanding of what needs to improve in practice for children and young people in Dudley. When shortfalls were identified during this inspection, leaders took decisive action, or could demonstrate that plans were in place to address these. The permanent Inspection of Dudley local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 appointment of an experienced DCS in November 2025 has brought much- needed focus. The DCS swiftly commissioned external scrutiny and challenge, which provided insight and supported the development of a largely accurate self-evaluation.

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families: inadequate

59. Leaders are aware that children in Dudley are not receiving the quality of help, support, protection and care that they need. Leaders know, and inspectors found, that plans to improve the quality of practice for children and families are yet to have impact.

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families: inadequate

60. Following the appointment of the permanent DCS, action has been taken to restructure and rebuild children’s services. Significant funding has been secured for sufficient leadership, management and practitioner positions, and there are plans in place to deliver practice improvements in a number of key areas.

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families: inadequate

61. Work with valued improvement partners has been instrumental in laying the building blocks for improvement. Change is yet to be achieved, and it is essential that improvements continue at pace. At the time of this inspection, the quality of practice for too many children and young people was inadequate.

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families: inadequate

62. There is now strong political and corporate commitment to children in Dudley and a focus on improvement. Despite financial pressures, there has been significant investment in strengthening services and increasing staffing capacity. Throughout this inspection, leaders have been open and transparent about their improvement journey and recognise that long-term commitment and continued investment are needed to improve the lives of the most vulnerable children.

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families: inadequate

63. Leaders’ understanding of their corporate parenting responsibilities is developing. During this inspection, action was taken to review the local offer, and there is now political and senior leadership commitment to improving services for children in care and care leavers. Participation opportunities for children in care and care leavers in Dudley are limited. Leaders know that more needs to be done to enable children in care and care leavers to be aware of what is available and to be involved in shaping it.

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families: inadequate

64. Partnership arrangements strategically and operationally have been ineffective and are underdeveloped. The needs of children have not been prioritised, and there has been an absence of meaningful challenge and engagement. The DCS has taken steps to develop strategic arrangements with partner agencies. The impact of this on children has not been seen.

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families: inadequate

65. Leaders are taking a measured approach to implementing the national reforms, in the context of prioritising the development of a stable workforce and effective partnership arrangements. There has been engagement with national networks to inform local decision-making, and there are plans in place to pilot the new model of practice before broader implementation. Inspection of Dudley local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 66. The commissioning and sufficiency strategy details how Dudley intends to meet the diverse sufficiency needs of cared-for children and care leavers. There are ambitious plans in place to extend internal provision for children in care and care leavers. Leaders know that there is much more to do to ensure that children are able to live in safe and stable homes that meet their needs.

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families: inadequate

67. Performance management is underdeveloped and does not consistently help leaders to identify strengths and weaknesses in practice. The quality and impact of audit activity is inconsistent. Leaders are taking steps to review and strengthen the quality assurance framework in order that it can provide a strengthened line of sight to practice.

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families: inadequate

68. Senior management oversight of children’s arrangements is being strengthened in some areas. There is more to do to ensure that there is sufficient oversight of all children. This includes effective oversight of children in unregistered settings, permanence planning, children placed with parents and those subject to deprivation of liberty orders.

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families: inadequate

69. The quality of management oversight of frontline practice is poor. Supervision does not always focus on the impact or experiences of children. It is not resulting in children’s risks and needs being identified, plans being progressed or in children’s experiences improving.

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families: inadequate

70. Leaders know that the workforce needs to be increased and stabilised. Workloads in Dudley are too high, and practitioners do not have the capacity and ability to develop impactful relationships with children, families and care leavers. Workers are responsible for very high caseloads, impacting their own wellbeing and the quality of work they carry out.

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families: inadequate

71. The workforce development strategy aims to strengthen workforce stability, capability and wellbeing. Leaders are focused on attracting and retaining staff and investing in their professional development and leadership. Their ambition is that this will result in high-quality social work practice and services for children. It is too soon to see the impact of this.

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families: inadequate

72. The DCS demonstrates a strong commitment to improving outcomes for children in Dudley. Through his leadership, characterised by honesty and transparency, the foundations for service improvement are being put in place. Corporate and political leaders now know that services for children in Dudley must improve at pace. Inspection of Dudley local authority children’s services 6 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 children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding

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families: inadequate

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families: inadequate

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

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