Luton children's services upgraded to 'Good'

Children's services provided by Luton Borough Council have been rated "Good" overall, six years after inspectors graded them as "Inadequate".

Ofsted inspectors said the authority was now providing "seamless and timely support for children".

Only one of the four inspection criteria regarding care leavers was still rated as "Requires Improvement".

The council said the latest overall grading was "what the children of Luton deserve".

In 2020, inspectors visited the council and concluded: "Widespread and serious weaknesses mean that too many children in need and in need of protection do not receive the help they need at the right time."

They said some children were "left in harmful situations for too long" and rated the service as "Inadequate".

A further inspection two years later found that "tangible and significant progress" had been made, but said the service still "Requires Improvement".

Four years on, the service has finally achieved a "Good" rating.

The inspectors found the council was now providing "locality-based family help services" with "diverse staff [who] represent the communities they serve".

They said assessments of need were completed to a high standard and concerns about children were identified by "professionally-curious" workers.

The only area which the inspectors graded as "Requires Improvement" was the experiences and progress of care leavers.

They found that some people were not allocated a personal adviser (PA) before they left the care system.

Although caseloads for the PAs had reduced, they were still "relatively high", and some advisers did not provide "consistent, individualised, relationship-based support".

The inspectors did, however, acknowledge that a care leavers' hub had been created "to enable care leavers to have their own space".

Steven Moss, who was in care from the age of two until he moved into his own home at 19, helped to set up a care leavers' forum.

He said: "If you're making changes about care leavers, care leavers need to be within that decision.

"I can happily say that the children who are growing up within the care system in Luton are going to have a much better time now than they would have maybe 10, 15 years ago."

Councillor Umme Ali, the portfolio holder for children's services at the council, said she was "incredibly proud" that the service had been upgraded because "the team have worked so hard".

She added: "I think children are the future of our town, and they deserve to feel safe and supported. So this judgement is what the children of Luton deserve."

She said the personal advisers' team had increased from 14 members to 24 to tackle the high caseload.

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