North Yorkshire County Council has become the first authority to receive an ‘outstanding’ grade in every category under the new social care inspection framework.
Ofsted found that every team in the council’s children’s social care department are delivering ‘outstanding’ practice, with families and children receiving ‘consistent, high quality’ service.
Inspectors praised the council’s leaderships for being ‘ambitious and forward thinking’ and responsive to change.
Yvette Stanley, Ofsted national director for social care, said: ‘This is a magnificent achievement and one which I wanted to particularly acknowledge today as this is the first time that Ofsted has awarded outstanding judgements across the board under the new inspection of local authority children's services framework.
‘This outcome is therefore an important milestone not just for North Yorkshire, but for the social care and wider children’s services sector, too.’
Cllr Janet Sanderson, North Yorkshire’s executive member for children and families, added: ‘During their visit inspectors described our work as ‘gold dust’ and we place a high value on our deeply committed and effective workforce.
‘The quality of practice matters to us and there is a relentless focus on building relationships with families and supporting them to change.’
