Somerset Children's Services Downgraded to Requires Improvement by Ofsted Inspectors

Other Committee · Meeting of July 24, 2026

Somerset's Children and Education Scrutiny Committee challenged a requires-improvement Ofsted rating and reviewed a 14-authority regional care cooperative bid at its July 24 meeting. Children's Services Director Jane told members the ILACS inspection downgraded the service from good across three of four domains, with care leavers rated good and the remaining domains requiring improvement, and confirmed a draft action plan must reach Ofsted by September 24. Vice Chair Councillor Mike Stanton described the Ofsted report as "a thoroughly bad report," noting that 15 of 20 bullet points in one section were positive yet the domain still received a requires improvement rating, with no weighting applied.

A 1.6 million pound staffing investment, approved at the prior meeting, has generated live adverts for fixed-term posts in assessment and safeguarding. Separately, Service Director Henrietta Barkham presented Somerset's participation in an expression of interest for a Southwest Regional Care Cooperative involving 14 local authorities, with South Gloucestershire Council as lead authority holding any DfE grant; the committee was supportive in principle but asked that legal, financial, and governance detail be provided before any formal commitment, warning that "regionalisation must not become a route to dilute accountability."

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Source: the Other Committee meeting of July 24, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.