Barnet children’s services: Ofsted give ‘good’ grade and praise improvements of last 2 years

Two years after a damning Ofsted report said there were “widespread and serious failures” in Barnet Council’s children’s services, a follow-up has praised them as “much-improved”.

The new Ofsted report comes after a number of monitoring visits and sees the council given a 'good' grade in all four criteria - covering leadership, the experiences of children who need protection and of those in or leaving care, and overall effectiveness.

The shock 2017 report had seen a 'inadequate' grade given.

But the new report from the inspectors reads: "Leaders and managers have made purposeful progress, at pace, to establish a child-focused service that is delivering good outcomes."

Cllr David Longstaff - the deputy leader of the council and chair of its children, education and safeguarding committee - said: "This is testament to the sheer hard work that has been put in by staff to deliver services that our children and young people deserve.

"The key thing now is to continue the hard work and build on this positive momentum."

The full report can be read here.