Councils click into the future of planning
In town halls across the country, planning officers are racing to update their Local Plans — but this time, the process looks very different.
Local area partnership promises urgent improvements
03/04/2025 Bracknell Forest Council and NHS Frimley ICB have promised ‘urgent and sustained improvements’ following a critical Ofsted and CQC report. |
Council chiefs welcome Ofsted’s focus on inclusion
03/02/2025 Local authority leaders have welcomed Ofsted’s greater focus on inclusion as part of the proposed overhaul of how schools are inspected. |
Leicester takes issue with watchdog's criticism
31/01/2025 Leicester City Council has said a newly-published Ofsted report ‘does not accurately reflect' its children's services. |
Knowsley leaving children 'being harmed or at risk'
21/01/2025 Regulator Ofsted has rated Knowsley MBC's children's services inadequate, warning the council was leaving young people being ‘harmed or at risk of harm'. |
500% rise in unregistered and illegal home use
28/11/2024 The number of vulnerable children in care placed in unregistered and illegal homes has shot up by 500% in three years, data released by Ofsted has shown. |
Council failing to respond to children at risk of ‘harm’
29/07/2024 Sefton Council is failing to respond in a timely manner to cases where children are at risk of ‘significant harm’, an Ofsted monitoring report concludes. |
Council leader resigns after bankruptcy warning
18/07/2024 The leader of Cheshire East Council resigned yesterday ahead of a vote of no confidence after a report raised serious concerns over the council’s finances. |
Council resists calls for leader to quit after critical SEND report
15/07/2024 West Northamptonshire Council has resisted calls for its head of children’s services to quit following a damning Ofsted and CQC report. |
SEND experience in Bury has been ‘poor for too long’
09/05/2024 Ofsted has found ‘widespread and/or systemic failings’, its lowest rating, in Bury’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision. |
One-word Ofsted judgements to be retained
25/04/2024 The controversial one-word Ofsted judgements for schools are here to stay despite criticism after the suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry. |
Struggles continue for scandal-hit council contractor
16/04/2024 A council contractor previously at the centre of a residential care abuse scandal has continued to struggle since it closed the sites. |
Over 700 vulnerable children placed in illegal homes
15/04/2024 Councils in England placed hundreds of vulnerable school-age children in unregulated homes last year due to the shortage of secure places. |
Ofsted rates Havering's children's services inadequate
16/02/2024 Havering LBC’s children’s services have been rated inadequate by Government regulator Ofsted after a two-week on-site inspection. |
Suffolk councillors resign over ‘widespread’ SEND failings
05/02/2024 Three councillors have resigned their posts at Suffolk CC after a damning report found there were ‘widespread’ failings affecting SEND outcomes. |
Unions call for school inspections to be suspended
21/12/2023 School inspections must be suspended until Ofsted implements recommendations to reform the system following the death of head teacher Ruth Perry, unions say. |
Lack of capacity hindering early help
07/11/2023 A lack of capacity is hindering early help services for children and families, a joint report by three watchdogs has found. |
Concern over hotel use for care leavers
02/11/2023 Too many care leavers live in hotels or other unsuitable accommodation in Devon but oversight at the county council has improved, Ofsted has found. |
Swindon children's services 'inadequate'
11/09/2023 Swindon BC’s children’s services have been judged inadequate by Ofsted. |
Ofsted warns against placing children in unregistered homes
15/08/2023 Ofsted has warned councils against placing vulnerable children, including those subject to deprivation of liberty orders, in unregistered children’s homes. |
Scandal-hit firm reports losses
14/08/2023 A firm at the centre of a residential care abuse scandal has reported operating losses of £5.8m for the year to June 2022. |
Progress at Herefordshire’s children’s services
03/08/2023 Ofsted has found improvements at Herefordshire’s children’s services but said more should be done to ensure consistent progress. |
Councils cannot afford new care regime, CCN warns
21/07/2023 The cost of new regulations for teenagers in care could be nine times more than Government funding and result in providers withdrawing beds, warns report. |
Ofsted chief apologises after Doncaster abuse and neglect
13/06/2023 Chief inspector Amanda Spielman has apologised after Ofsted failed to uncover ‘very serious’ abuse and neglect at three residential settings in Doncaster. |
Ofsted announces shakeup after suicide
12/06/2023 The system for inspecting schools in England is facing a shakeup after the suicide of head teacher Ruth Perry led to calls for reform. |
Kent receives improvement notice for SEND failings
06/04/2023 An improvement notice has been issued to Kent CC after it failed to turn around its special educational needs and disability (SEND) services. |
East Riding children's services rated ‘good’
28/03/2023 East Riding of Yorkshire Council's children's services have been rated good, less than three years after being told by inspectors they were inadequate. |
Head teacher’s death prompts call for Ofsted inspection pause
21/03/2023 Education unions have called for Ofsted inspections to be paused following the death of a head teacher who was waiting for a report on her school. |
Herefordshire Council to retain control of children’s services
02/03/2023 Herefordshire Council will be able to retain control over its troubled children's services department for now but it will have to demonstrate improvements. |
Commissioner warns children's services could be removed from Sefton
07/02/2023 A Government-appointed commissioner has warned Sefton Council’s children’s services are still in ‘severe difficulties’ and could be removed from local control. |
Ofsted downgrades over 300 ‘outstanding’ schools
22/11/2022 Hundreds of schools that had a graded inspection last year did not retain their outstanding grade, an Ofsted report has revealed. |
Warning of 'last minute dash' to find care placements for children
18/11/2022 Local authorities are being forced to make a ‘last minute dash’ to find homes for children coming into care due to a lack of suitable accommodation, a report has warned today. |
Improvement notice for Nottingham's children's services
25/10/2022 An improvement notice has been handed to Nottingham City Council over its children’s services. |
Ofsted blasts Cheshire East’s safeguarding services
27/09/2022 Child safeguarding services in Cheshire East have ‘serious and fundamental weaknesses’ which leave children at risk of exploitation, according to Ofsted. |
Notts council children’s service ‘Inadequate’
05/09/2022 Nottingham City Council has expressed regret that its children’s service is ‘not where it should be’ after Ofsted rated them as ‘Inadequate’. |
Council’s children’s services ‘improved in all areas’
15/08/2022 Coventry City Council’s children's services have been rated as ‘good’ following its latest Ofsted inspection. |
Ofsted calls for social care workforce strategy
27/07/2022 The watchdog the need is ‘more urgent than ever’ as it published a report looking at the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on children’s social care. |
Ofsted rates Kent children’s services ‘outstanding’
06/07/2022 Kent children’s services rated ‘outstanding’ with inspectors recognising the council cares for ‘unparalleled numbers’ of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. |
York council set to share children’s social care action plan
22/06/2022 York Council will share a plan outlining how the council will improve its services for children after an inspection said the services ‘required improvement’. |
Consultation for new SEND inspection framework launched
14/06/2022 Ofsted and the CQC have today launched a consultation on a new draft framework for inspecting local provision for children and young people with SEND. |
Children’s services in Manchester rated ‘Good’
20/05/2022 Children’s services delivered by Manchester council have been rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted for the first time since the body started inspecting council services. |
Improvements in Torbay Council’s children’s services ‘impressive’, Ofsted say
19/05/2022 Torbay Council’s children’s services have ‘significantly improved’ after years of underperforming, an Ofsted inspection has concluded. |
Commission calls for end to school ‘exclusions culture’
29/04/2022 The rise in the number of exclusions from schools leads to teenagers being put at risk of exploitation and serious violence, new report warns. |
Ofsted to increase focus on early years education
26/04/2022 The schools watchdog will increase its focus on early years education over the next five years as part of the effort to help children impacted by the pandemic. |
Report calls for a national audit on needs of children in care
13/04/2022 There needs to be a national audit around the needs of children in care, a new study from Ofsted has said today. |
Government intervenes over council's 'inadequate' children's services
11/04/2022 The Government has issued a statutory direction to Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council forcing it to improve its children’s social care services. |
Councils to be allowed to set up multi-academy trusts
28/03/2022 Local authority leaders have welcomed the Government’s plan to allow councils to set up and run their own multi-academy trusts. |
A third of care leavers say they left care before they were ready
19/01/2022 More than a third of care leavers feel they left care too early, a new survey has revealed today. |
Council chiefs welcome new measures to improve children’s social care
16/12/2021 Local authority leaders have welcomed new measures aimed at stopping poor quality supported accommodation providers and rooting out bad practice. |
Schools show improvement despite pandemic, Ofsted finds
13/12/2021 Schools across the UK have shown signs of improvement despite the impact of the pandemic, school inspectors say. |
Spielman: No silver bullet for children's social care
07/12/2021 Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman has warned there is no ‘silver bullet’ to the long-term problems in the children’s social care sector. |
Council pledges to support children after services rated ‘inadequate’
29/11/2021 The leadership of North East Lincolnshire Council has pledged to protect and support young people after the local authority’s children’s services were judged ‘inadequate’. |
Ofsted to inspect all schools by summer 2025
17/11/2021 All schools and colleges will be inspected by Ofsted by summer 2025 to determine how education is recovering from the pandemic. |
Figures paint 'bleak picture' of foster care
12/11/2021 A lack of foster carers means vulnerable children are not getting the support they need, Ofsted has warned. |
SEND children being left behind by council
31/08/2021 Children with special educational needs are being left behind by council services across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, inspectors have found. |
Children's services in Sunderland leap from Inadequate to Outstanding
20/08/2021 Children's services in Sunderland, delivered by Together for Children, are the first in the country to make the leap from Inadequate to Outstanding. |
Ofsted publishes new guidance for confronting sexual abuse
29/06/2021 Ofsted has published updated education inspection handbooks, clarifying how inspectors will assess how schools and colleges confront sexual harassment, abuse and violence among children and young people. |
Most children in care feel safe where they live
21/06/2021 A new survey has found that while the majority of children in social care settings are happy where they live, nearly one in 20 regularly feel unsafe. |
Sexual harassment ‘normalised’ for children, Ofsted warns
10/06/2021 Sexual harassment, including online sexual abuse, has become ‘normalised’ for children and young people, Ofsted has found. |
Council chiefs call for review of SEND system to be completed ‘urgently’
14/05/2021 Council leaders have called on Government to ‘urgently complete’ its review of the SEND system and to ensure councils have funding to support SEND children. |
Ofsted to visit schools facing sexual abuse allegations
08/04/2021 Ofsted has announced it will visit a sample of schools and colleges in England where sexual abuse claims have been made. |
West Sussex to keep control of children’s services for at least 12 months
11/12/2020 West Sussex County Council will keep control of its children’s services for at least another year following improvements made, the Department for Education (DfE) has said. |
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Pandemic made vulnerable children 'invisible' report warns
01/12/2020 Vulnerable children became 'invisible' during the pandemic, Ofsted's chief inspector warned today. |
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Capacity in foster care is stalling, data reveals
13/11/2020 The number of applications to become a foster carer has fallen by 10% since March last year, new data has revealed. |
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Ofsted warns of COVID impact on SEND support
09/11/2020 The pandemic has ‘seriously affected’ support for special educational needs an disabilities (SEND), according to Ofsted. |
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Spike in child abuse since pandemic
06/11/2020 Ofsted’s chief inspector has warned of an increase in the number of child injuries and deaths uncovered by local authorities since the onset of the pandemic. |
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Local areas to get extra support to strengthen SEND services
10/07/2020 Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) will visit local areas to help them improve their SEND services following the disruption caused by COVID-19. |
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Middlesbrough to keep control of its children's services
05/06/2020 Middlesbrough Council will be allowed to keep control of its 'inadequate' children's services to allow further improvements to be made. |
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MPs tell department to 'get a grip' on SEND
05/05/2020 The Department for Education (DfE) does not have a grip on mounting pressure in the special educational needs and disability (SEND) system, a watchdog has found. |
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Devon CC’s children’s services criticised for ‘serious failures’
19/03/2020 Ofsted has found ‘serious failures’ in services for young people in Devon as they discovered a minority of care leavers had been living in tents. |
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Yorkshire council criticises Ofsted rating based on ‘short inspection visit’
16/03/2020 A local authority in Yorkshire has said it is ‘disappointed’ by an Ofsted rating of its children’s social care services which concluded they were ‘inadequate’. |
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Council first outside London to transform flagging children’s services to ‘outstanding’
03/03/2020 A Midlands council has become the first outside of London to transform children’s services from ‘requires improvement to be good’ to ‘outstanding’. |
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Council announces £4.4m for ‘significantly declined’ children’s services
07/02/2020 Hull City Council has announced a series of measures to improve children’s services after Ofsted concluded that the experiences of children in care had ‘significantly declined.’ |
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Councils sent back to drawing board on SEND
28/01/2020 Councils have been sent back to the drawing board after a quango ripped apart their plans to recover massive special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) deficits. |
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Plans for ‘universal’ school inspections launched
10/01/2020 Ofsted will visit all schools judged to be outstanding within the next five academic years, the Government has announced. |
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‘Stuck’ schools need more tailored support, inspectors say
08/01/2020 Hundreds of schools in England are ‘stuck’ in a cycle of low performance and need more tailored support to improve, a new Ofsted report has found. |
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School league tables ‘misrepresent’ performance, northern leaders say
30/10/2019 Secondary school league tables misrepresent performance by failing to show the difference when pupil background is taken into account, northern leaders say. |
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Reading’s children’s services improvement ‘huge achievement'
30/10/2019 A council-owned company has moved Reading's children's services out of its ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating. |
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Council to re-direct £5.5m to 'inadequate' children’s services
18/10/2019 Stoke-on-Trent City Council has approved plans to invest £5.5m into its children’s services following an ‘inadequate’ rating from Ofsted earlier this year. |
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Children with special educational needs home schooled ‘as last resort’
15/10/2019 Parents of SEN children often home school their kids as a last resort rather than a preferred choice, a new Ofsted report has revealed. |
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Six councils conned into spending thousands of pounds on illegal school
03/10/2019 Six local authorities were duped into paying thousands of pounds to educate vulnerable children in an unsafe illegal school. |
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Labour pledges to scrap ‘unfit for purpose’ Ofsted
23/09/2019 Labour has vowed to scrap Ofsted and replace it with regular ‘health checks’ led by local government. |
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New measures to improve underperforming schools
02/09/2019 A new specialist academy trust to take on and turn around the most challenging schools will be launched by the Government. |
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Commissioner appointed to oversee council’s ‘inadequate’ children’s services
27/08/2019 The Government has appointed a commissioner to improve Medway Council’s children’s services after Ofsted rated them ‘inadequate’. |
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'Slow progress' two years after inadequate judgement
24/05/2019 Gloucestershire CC is making ‘slow progress’ in improving its services for its children and young people two years after it was judged inadequate, Ofsted has found. |
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Council schools get better Ofsted ratings than academies, report finds
23/05/2019 Council-maintained schools are more likely to remain ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ than their academy counterparts, new research suggests. |
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Suffolk CC’s children’s services awarded ‘outstanding’
22/05/2019 Ofsted inspectors have awarded children’s services at Suffolk County Council the top grade of ‘outstanding'. |
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Hull council commits £2m to improve ‘inadequate’ children’s services
20/05/2019 Hull CC has promised to ‘accelerate’ its improvement plans and invest an extra £2m into its children’s services after they were rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted. |
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New school inspections framework to discourage ‘teaching to the test’
14/05/2019 Teachers have welcomed Ofsted's new inspection framework which pledges to focus on curriculum, behaviour and development rather than on test results. |
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Schools ‘fear-monger’ to remove pupils, survey finds
10/05/2019 Teachers have told Ofsted that they want to see more support for parents to help them push back against the practice of ‘off-rolling’. |
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Ofsted to retain grading system in new inspection framework
30/04/2019 Ofsted has decided to retain its current 4-point grading system when it launches its new inspection framework in September. |
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Call for inspection pause in case of Brexit hit
10/04/2019 Council chiefs have urged Whitehall to be ready to ease pressures on the sector for up to six months if Brexit threatens to stretch capacity. |
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Children ‘not being protected’ by Stoke-on-Trent Council
19/03/2019 Children’s social care services are ‘inadequate’ at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, according to the findings of a new Ofsted inspection. |
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Education watchdog calls time on ‘teaching to the test'
16/01/2019 Ofsted says it is moving away from its focus on performance data as the watchdog launches a consultation on proposals for changes to its inspection framework. |
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Bromley children’s services undergo ‘remarkable’ improvements
09/01/2019 Bromley council are ‘extremely proud’ after Ofsted rated their children’s services, which were ‘inadequate’ two years ago, ‘good’ with ‘outstanding’ leadership. |
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Wakefield avoids intervention over children's services
13/12/2018 Wakefield Council should retain control of its children’s services, a commissioner has recommended. |
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Nearly 500 underperforming schools ‘betrayal of children’s futures.’
01/11/2018 The chief inspector of Ofsted has warned that the existence of nearly 500 ‘stuck’ schools is ‘nothing short of a scandal.’ |
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Birmingham ‘lacks’ leadership on SEND issues
11/09/2018 Birmingham City Council has said it is ‘very disappointed’ by the results of a special educational needs and disabilities inspection and said it would take urgent action to make ‘significant improvements’. |
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Ofsted ‘fig leaf’ for Whitehall failures on school standards
07/09/2018 Ofsted is not providing the level of independent assurance about the quality of education that schools and parents need, MPs warn. |
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Thousands of children in care where councils are providing failing services, warns report
20/08/2018 Politicians have been accused of ignoring a 'silent crisis' of substandard care for children who are later facing social and economic problems in their adult lives. |
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An 'outstanding' example for children's services
09/08/2018 A county in the north of England provides a shining example of how to run children's care services, writes Mark Whitehead. |
