Ofsted inspectors have praised the impact of a council’s decision to bring an externally-commissioned service back under council control. Inspectors said the decision by Wandsworth council to bring its care leaver service back in house had meant changes which have had “a positive impact on the service”. A monitoring report by the watchdog said the council, which was rated ‘inadequate’ in its February 2016 inspection, had taken immediate steps to improve care leaver services while they were externally commissioned. Improvements were not sustained, so the service was transferred back to the local authority. Changes made by Wandsworth council included a permanent increase in the number of personal advisers and the education, employment and training of specialist career and education advisers.
“There has been a reduction in caseload numbers and this is leading to a better quality of engagement and direct work with young people,” the report said. It said it took “some time” to end the contractual arrangements with the previous provider, which had “limited the pace of improvement”. However, it said the quality of work in most areas had begun to improve. Read more.
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