Council children’s services are improving

Council children’s services are on the up, driven by improvements in children’s social care, this year’s annual performance assessment results, released today, show.

Ofsted and the Commission for Social Care Inspection said 84 per cent of councils provided good or better services – scoring three or four  – up from three-quarters in 2005.

Children’s social care improved by a similar margin, with just under three-quarters of councils scoring three or four, compared to just under two-thirds last year.

Eighty nine per cent of councils had good or excellent capacity for improvement, up from 86 per cent in 2005.

Seven authorities – Camden, Gloucestershire, Knowsley, Shropshire, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth and Worcestershire – scored four in all three categories.

The results covered 102 of the 150 English authorities, with those facing or having just had joint area reviews excluded, and refer to social care performance in the financial year 2005-6 and educational performance in the school year 2004-5.

The government plans to abolish the annual assessment and three-yearly reviews, alongside social services star ratings, in 2009, under plans announced last week.