Ofsted highlights progress and ongoing priorities for Wirral children’s services
Wirral Council has welcomed the findings of Ofsted’s focused visit to children’s services, which confirm that the Integrated Front Door (IFD) “continues to respond swiftly and effectively” to contacts about vulnerable children. Inspectors noted robust multi‑agency checks, daily management meetings, and timely managerial oversight that support clear and proportionate decision‑making.
The visit also highlighted well-attended strategy discussions, effective information sharing, and strong use of children’s histories and chronologies to ensure thresholds are applied consistently. Inspectors further recognised a swift and robust emergency duty response out of hours, ensuring children are kept safe at all times.
Since the 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that senior leaders have strengthened joint processes for 16–17 year olds who present as homeless, raised the profile of private fostering arrangements, and improved workforce stability across the service.
At the same time, they identified areas that require further improvement. These include the timeliness of some strategy discussions and initial child protection conferences, the consistency and quality of assessments, safety planning, managerial oversight, and the quality of audit practice within the quality assurance framework.
Elizabeth Hartley, Director of Children, Families and Education, said:
We are pleased that Ofsted has recognised the strength of Wirral’s integrated front door, the dedication and stability of our workforce, and the important improvements we have made for homeless 16–17 year olds and for children in private fostering arrangements.
We also fully acknowledge the areas where we need to go further. We are already acting on the findings — strengthening the timeliness of strategy discussions and child protection conferences, improving the consistency of assessments, and sharpening the quality and impact of our audit work.
Our commitment to strong, collaborative relationships with children, families and partners continues to drive progress. We will keep working together to ensure consistently high‑quality practice for every child, every time.
Councillor Stephen Bennett, Chair of the Children, Young People and Education Committee, said:
This focused visit shows that our teams are working with determination and professionalism to keep children safe. We recognise that there is more to do, and we remain fully committed to with our partners to deliver the improvements identified. Our priority is, and will continue to be, ensuring that every child in Wirral receives the right help at the right time.
In response to the findings, the council has already taken swift and targeted action. A refreshed service improvement plan is now in place, setting out clear milestones and accountable leads. Joint working with police partners has been strengthened to improve the timeliness of strategy discussions and enhance multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.
Management oversight has also been reinforced, with a focus on improving audit quality to ensure evaluation and analysis lead to meaningful learning and continuous improvement.
The service is also embedding a new team structure aligned with co‑located Family Help teams, reducing hand‑offs and further supporting Wirral’s relational practice model. These developments, together with the feedback from this focused visit, will continue to shape and strengthen the council’s ongoing improvement work and future inspection readiness.
The letter from Ofsted following the visit is available here.
