Ofsted said that some areas of the service still need improvements
06:02, 11 Jul 2026Updated 07:58, 11 Jul 2026
Children's service in Cambridgeshire have shown "significant improvement" according to Ofsted, but there are still areas that need more work. In a report published on July 9 about an inspection which took place in June, Ofsted said that most children in care in Cambridgeshire "live in stable and caring homes".
The inspection focused on Cambridgeshire County Council's arrangements for children in care, with inspectors speaking to children, social workers, carers and managers during their visit. Record-keeping practices were looked at, and inspectors said that "significant improvement" had been made since their last visit in 2024. They did say however that some areas are still "in need of development".
The report said: "With the growth of kinship care, more children now benefit from living in homes which are well matched to meet their identity and needs. Additionally, more children now benefit from leaving care with their legal permanence secured.
"There has been an improvement in the stability of the workforce at every level. This is enabling social work practice to develop and for workloads to decrease so that social workers have the opportunity to improve children’s experiences."
It went on to say that "social workers enjoy working in Cambridgeshire" and "speak with pride and care about the children they are working with". Social workers also "describe a visible senior leadership team whose members […] are approachable. Social workers value the training [on] offer and feel that this is directly improving their social work practice".
However there were elements which were identified as needing more work. The inspection found that some children "do not move to the home which best meets their needs". It also said that some children's plans are "not sufficiently detailed, and actions are not always clear, child focused or timebound".
Despite this, it said that "social workers know their children well and, as a result, children are able to talk about their wishes and feelings". Children's identity and culture is also promoted, with several different festivals and religions celebrated. Children are encouraged to enjoy hobbies and sport, and "some children benefit from having holidays abroad".
Another area of improvement which was identitifed was in life-story work. The report says: "Most social workers do not complete life-story work early enough to capture key moments in children’s lives. Consequently, many children do not have the opportunity of understanding their journey through care in a way that meets their needs."
The report also identified four areas which are still in need of improvement:
Cllr Edna Murphy, Chair of the Children and Young People Committee at Cambridgeshire County Council, said: “I’m pleased that Ofsted’s focused visit found significant improvements in our children’s services. This report affirms the substantial effort and resource that has been devoted to improving the experiences of children in the council’s care over the last couple of years.
“As a Council, we take our responsibility as Corporate Parents – to provide the best possible start in life for the county’s looked-after children and young people – extremely seriously. It’s therefore especially gratifying to read that more children now live in homes well-matched to their identity and needs, and that more children are now leaving care with their legal permanence secured through special guardianship orders.
“We must be clear – we are still not yet where we want to be. We have not made as much progress in some areas as we would like – and the plans we have in place to address this are not yet positively impacting children’s experiences.
“However, it’s great to hear that our social workers speak about the children they support with pride and enjoy working in Cambridgeshire. Indeed, improved workforce retention is delivering real benefits for our children and young people, in terms of increased contact time, helping to empower them to live full, healthy lives.”
| # | Наименование новости | Тональность | Информативность | Дата публикации |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Care home told it ‘requires improvement’ as relative says ‘things are getting worse’ | -2 | 5 | 10-07-2026 |
| 2 | В Костроме отремонтировали более 120 элементов на детских площадках | 0 | 5 | 01-07-2026 |
| 3 | В Амурской области устранили часть нарушений в детских домах | 0 | 0 | 16-01-2019 |
| 4 | Три детсада открыли после капремонта в Кайтагском районе Дагестана | 0 | 0 | 02-09-2020 |
| 5 | Новый корпус детского сада на 180 мест открылся в Фокинском районе Брянска | 0 | 0 | 29-11-2019 |
| 6 | В Ленинградской области этим летом будут работать в два раза меньше детских лагерей | 0 | 0 | 30-06-2020 |
| 7 | Хинштейн считает необходимыми изменения в системе здравоохранения региона | 0 | 0 | 17-03-2025 |
| 8 | Около 70 участков дорог рядом со школами и детсадами отремонтировали в Подмосковье | 0 | 0 | 31-08-2020 |
| 9 | В 63% детских лагерей в Кировской области в 2018 году выявлены нарушения | 0 | 0 | 04-10-2018 |
| 10 | В Оренбуржье капитально отремонтировали школу, на состояние которой пожаловались Путину | 0 | 0 | 02-09-2019 |