The Safeguarding and Education Overview and Scrutiny Committee met on Tuesday 10 March 2026 to discuss the findings of an Ofsted revisit to Children's Services and the data surrounding Return Home Interviews. The committee resolved to welcome the improvements identified by Ofsted, congratulate the staff involved, and schedule a follow-up report on the ILACS Implementation Plan for September. They also agreed to explore the scrutiny of the transition from the Care Director to Liquid Logic case recording system.

Ofsted Children's Services Re-visit Findings

The committee received an update on the findings from Ofsted's focused visit inspection of Staffordshire Children's Services, which took place on 9th and 10th December 2025. This revisit followed a full inspection in November 2023, which saw the service's grading drop from Good to Requires Improvement. Gemma Gerrish, Assistant Director for Family Health and Safeguarding, presented the findings, highlighting significant improvements in practice and leadership.

Inspectors noted a positive change in leadership, with the Director of Children's Services, Bernie Brown, bringing an ambitious vision and drive. The report indicated that leaders now have a much more accurate view of what's happening for children and a realistic understanding of ongoing challenges. The integrated front door service, which went live in September 2025, was praised for its positive impact on management decision-making and timeliness. Improvements were also noted in the response to adults in positions of trust, specifically the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) role, and the out-of-hours emergency duty service. Social workers were described as committed and skilled at building trusting relationships with families.

However, areas for improvement were identified. The evaluation of quality through audits was sometimes optimistic, leading to missed opportunities. The quality of initial contact recording by the council's contact centre required further improvement, with plans in place to bring this function in-house to the integrated front door. Caseloads for social workers were sometimes too high, impacting the capacity to meet practice standards, although management oversight was improving. The quality of assessments needed to better capture the wider lived experience of families and their community support networks.

The committee was informed of key priorities for 2026, including the internal restructure and implementation of the national Families First Partnership, aimed at lowering caseloads and improving managerial oversight. The implementation of Liquid Logic, a new electronic case recording system, is expected to improve recording quality and staff efficiency. Developing sufficiency arrangements for children in care, refining corporate parenting arrangements, and enhancing the rigour of quality assurance processes were also highlighted.

The committee resolved to welcome the improvements, congratulate the staff, and schedule a report on the ILACS Implementation Plan for their September meeting. They also agreed to explore the scrutiny of the transition from the current case recording system, Care Director, to Liquid Logic.

Return Home Interviews

The committee reviewed data concerning Return Home Interviews (RHIs) for children placed in Staffordshire by other authorities. Cabinet had previously agreed on 12 January 2026 to change the provision of these interviews, aligning with statutory guidance. The data presented showed that 98% of RHIs were offered, with 75% completed within 72 hours. Between 2024 and 2025, there were 1,453 missing episodes involving 649 children.

The Missing Needs analysis indicated a reduction in repeat missing episodes, with Staffordshire performing highly compared to statutory neighbours, showing a 20% reduction in missing episodes. A dedicated commissioned officer manages the contract with the provider, Trinity Support Services, and liaises daily with the integrated front door. The committee heard about the work with the Child Exploitation and Missing Team, which links intelligence and produces dynamic risk assessments.

Concerns were raised about the 25% of offered RHIs that were not completed, with reasons including children or parents refusing the interview, or contextual factors such as mental health crises or police detention. Councillor Charlotte Kelly requested more detailed data to scrutinise the issues raised during the Cabinet decision call-in, particularly regarding the timeliness of information sharing and the validation of improvements. The committee was informed that RHI questions are tailored to individual circumstances and that there is rarely a single reason for a child going missing.

The committee resolved to request an explanation of the additional data requested, welcomed the data presented, and agreed to scrutinise the annual Missing From Home audit regarding children who are missing.

Work Programme

Helen Phillips provided an update on the committee's work programme. The agreed ways forward from a work programme planning session on 2 March had been circulated. The Elective Home Education working group was nearing the conclusion of its work, with a meeting planned with young people receiving home education in April, after which their report and recommendations will be presented to the committee. A membership change was also noted, with Councillor Rhys Mandry replacing Councillor Helen Williams. The committee resolved to note the changes to the work programme.