![\"Sefton](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_Sefton-local-authority-childrens-services-team.jpg\")
Sefton local authority children\u2019s services’ team(Image: Sefton Council)<\/p>\nSefton Council’s children’s services have been rated Good by OfstedSefton local authority children\u2019s services’ team(Image: Sefton Council)<\/p>\n
Three years after a scathing Ofsted report, Sefton Council is celebrating a \u2018major achievement\u2019 after Ofsted updated the rating of its children\u2019s services to \u2018Good\u2019.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Sefton<\/a> Council\u2019s children\u2019s services department was rocked by the findings of an inspection which detailed a series of \u2018widespread failures\u2019<\/a> \u2013 resulting in an \u2018inadequate\u2019 rating. Fast forward three years, and the local authority has gone from the worst possible rating to achieving an overall effectiveness score of \u2018Good\u2019.<\/p>\n In May 2023, Sefton Council officially appointed Dr Risthardh Hare as its new director of children\u2019s services, and he was tasked with managing the local authority\u2019s \u2018improvement journey\u2019. At the time, Sefton was still reeling from a report which said its services left children in \u201chigh risk situations\u201d.<\/p>\n In an interview with the Liverpool ECHO<\/a> in May 2024, Dr Hare acknowledged the monumental work that was going into improving children\u2019s services but admitted the situation was \u2018worse\u2019 than what was noted in the Ofsted report<\/a>.<\/p>\n Responding to the latest Ofsted inspection, Dr Hare said: \u201cThis rating is a testament to the dedication and resilience of our staff, partners, and the children and families we serve. We\u2019ve worked tirelessly to rebuild trust, improve practice, and ensure that every child in Sefton receives the care and protection they deserve.<\/p>\n \u201cSefton is now in a strong position to roll out collaborative multi agency work and this Ofsted has confirmed what we knew already, our partnerships and relationships are solid and give families the support they need at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n The Ofsted report published today comes from a full inspection of its children\u2019s service between June 23 \u2013 July 4 2025 and rates the overall effectiveness of the service as \u2018Good\u2019 \u2013 including a \u2018Good\u2019 rating in three of the four assessment categories. The report states: \u201cServices for children and families in Sefton have significantly improved since the 2022 inspection, when overall effectiveness was judged to be inadequate.<\/p>\n \u201cMost children now receive services that are making a positive difference to their progress and experiences, helping to keep them safer and well cared for. There are still inconsistencies in the response to neglect, leading to delay in the progression of planning for some children, which affects their outcomes.<\/p>\n \u201cChildren are now a clear priority for the wider council. The leadership team\u2019s focus on recruitment, retention and managing caseloads has stabilised the workforce and improved practice quality. Staff report a positive shift in organisational culture.<\/p>\n \u201cMore recently, leaders have taken a steady, persistent approach to improvement, using external and independent scrutiny effectively. A robust quality assurance framework provides leaders with a clear understanding of service effectiveness. Leaders have a clear understanding of what further improvements are needed and have firm plans in place.\u201d<\/p>\n The inspection commended the council\u2019s leadership, workforce stability and commitment to improving outcomes for children and families. Ofsted highlighted significant progress in safeguarding, care planning and support for care-experienced young people.<\/p>\n This will be a major boost to everyone at Sefton Council, including council leader, Cllr Marion Atkinson who committed to making the local authority\u2019s children\u2019s services its \u2018number one priority\u2019. Cllr Atkinson said: \u201cThis is a proud moment for Sefton. Our children\u2019s services have undergone a transformation, driven by strong leadership, dedicated, passionate staff and a relentless focus on improvement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve worked tirelessly to build a children\u2019s services in Sefton that our families, children and young people deserve and this Ofsted rating confirms that our children are now safer, better supported and more empowered.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite an overall rating of \u2018Good\u2019 Ofsted\u2019s report said the service still \u2018requires improvement\u2019 when it comes to the \u2018experiences and progress of children who need help and protection\u2019. Perhaps the most strongly worded criticisms are expressed in point 17: \u201cFor children experiencing neglect, practice does not always fully consider cumulative harm.<\/p>\n \u201cFor some children, this has led to repeated cycles of concern without decisive safeguarding action being taken to reduce risk. Management oversight and challenge by child protection conference chairs (the local authority call these independent reviewing officers (IROs)) is not consistently leading to children being protected effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n Nonetheless, inspectors also stated that child in need and child protection plans are mostly \u2018specific, timebound and outcome focused, with clear contingency plans\u2019. Inspectors also submitted a five-point action plan to support Sefton\u2019s ongoing improvement journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sefton Council’s children’s services have been rated Good by OfstedSefton local authority children\u2019s services’ team(Image: Sefton Council) Three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,26695,4884,179,12459,12460,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-338383","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-family-and-kids","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-sefton","14":"tag-sefton-council","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115015707839724490","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Bootle](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_Bootle-Town-Hall-credit-LDRS.jpg\")
Bootle Town Hall (credit: LDRS)(Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n