Bristol children, young people, and their families do "not receive consistently good services", a recent Ofsted inspection has found. The report on Bristol City Council's children's services found that although council leaders have made significant improvements, three out of five key areas still need improvement.
The aspects requiring improvement included the impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families, the experiences and progress of children who need help and the service's overall effectiveness. The experiences and progress of children in care and care leavers were both found to be 'good'.
The report particularly noted that assessments of private fostering arrangements were "not robust" and that not all safeguarding checks were completed before children’s placements were approved. It also found that leaders were not fully aware of these shortfalls.
