Ofsted comments over care leavers service “unacceptable” – former inspector

Earlier this year, Wakefield Council complained to Ofsted despite inspectors giving its children services an overall rating of good and judging provision for children in care as outstanding.

However, following the assessment in March, inspectors said services for care leavers required improvement.

Ruth Love, a co-opted member of the council’s children and young people’s scrutiny committee, told a meeting: “For a very short time I was an Ofsted inspector.

“I know that they get a lot of grief unnecessarily, because they are trying to do quite a difficult job in difficult circumstances.

“But I think if I had been a member of that inspection team, I would have been strongly saying ‘you cannot accuse the authority’, ‘you cannot bring them down’.”

Ms Love made the comments as the committee discussed the Ofsted report and were told the council’s complaint was not upheld.

She added: “The things they have brought them down on is unacceptable and I’m very glad you put in your challenge.

“Personally, if I had been part of that team I would have been lobbying hard within the team to say ‘this cannot be right’.”

Commending the service, the Ofsted report said children in care in Wakefield were “receiving the right level of help and protection through robust and well-organised services”.

It said: “Senior leaders have significantly improved the experiences of children in care who now receive outstanding services.”

But the report said more needed to be done for care leavers, mainly in relation to the allocation of personal advisors (PAs) to help young people.

Commenting on the report, Vicky Schofield, the council’s corporate director for children and young people, said: “What we continue to be pleased about is that we have improved in almost all key performance indicators.

“Where we haven’t significantly improved were were sustaining high performance against the targets that we were setting.

“So, what we are saying is, and what we are confident about is, notwithstanding Ofsted’s position, is that this is a service that continues to significantly improve.”

Committee members were told Ofsted had carried out a focussed inspection specifically in relation to care leavers in 2023 and no serious issues were raised.

Ms Love asked: “Did our practice change after that focussed visit?

Ms Schofield replied: “Not at all. It was very positive apart from two minor recommendations or comments.

“The only requirements were in relation to the provision of Wi-Fi. It was the only requirement within the focussed visit.

“It was a visit focussing exclusively on care leavers.

Ms Love then asked: “So we had inspectors in 2023 who did not highlight this as an issue and inspectors in 2025 have gone gung-ho and said you are not even good?”

Ms Schofield said: “They had a different view is what we would say.”

According to the report, 85 per cent of 21 of 25-year-old-care leavers in Wakefield remained in contact with the service, significantly above the national average of 50 per cent.

Ms Schofield added: “I think it is important to say that the report that you read is a much abbreviated version of the feedback that we received.

“The feedback that we received from inspectors reflected very clearly on the fact that young people receive all of the help that they need.

“That the service they receive is provided by people they know and that they have a good relationship with.”

Services were previously inspected in 2021, when they were rated as good with outstanding leadership.

It came three years after services were rated as inadequate and placed in special measures when inspectors said vulnerable children had been placed at risk.