Ofsted inspection of Warwickshire's 'Children in Need'

Yesterday (Tuesday 10th July) the County Council received formal notification from Ofsted that they will be undertaking a focused visit next week between Tuesday 17 July - Wednesday 18 July.  

The visit will focus on ‘Children in Need, and those subject to a Child Protection Plan’, including:

• thresholds  

• step-up/step-down between children in need and child protection  

• children on the edge of care  

• children subject to letter before proceedings and the quality and impact of pre-proceedings interventions  

• children in need at risk of family breakdown  

• the quality of decisions about entering care  

• protection of disabled children

The inspectors will be based at Saltisford Office Park, Warwick and will be visiting teams and sites during their visit.  

In advance of their visit we will be providing them with key documentation and performance information.  If you are asked to provide information, it would be really helpful if you could do so as soon as possible.

During their visit the inspectors will:

• Meet with social workers to understand the nature and impact of their work with children and families

• Observe practice in multi-agency/single agency meeting or part of meeting

• Shadow staff in their day-to day work

• Scrutinise electronic records

• Evaluate children’s records that have already been audited

• Hear views of Children and Young People and their families

• See and hear the impact of local consultation with Children & Young People

• Test thresholds

• Review a sample of supervision records and carers records

As appropriate could you please also notify any local partners you work closely with.  

As an organisation we put children at the heart of all we do and we are committed to doing the very best to protect children and help them reach their full potential. Keeping children safe, and helping them to be healthy and happy is everyone’s responsibility.

We will keep everyone informed of key developments as soon as we can.  Your co-operation and support during the inspection process is greatly appreciated.

If you have any questions about the inspection please contact the Ofsted Inspection Planning Team: OfstedInspection@warwickshire.gov.uk