Council turns around children's services with new outstanding rating

ONCE RATED 'INADEQUATE', DEPARTMENT NOW NAMED AS ONE OF COUNTRY'S BEST

- By JOSPEH TIMAN

MANCHESTER council has become the first in the region to be rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted, completing a remarkable turnaround.

The local authority's children's services, which was rated 'Inadequate' a decade ago, has now been named among the best in the country.

The verdict, revealed in the latest inspection report comes 11 years after the town hall was criticised for leaving hundreds of vulnerable children 'potentially at risk' as social workers with high case loads meant they waited months for help.

The damning Ofsted report in 2014 came as a 'massive shock' to the council - but it also sparked a major transformation of its services.

Despite deep cuts to council budgets at the time, money was put back into children's services and new personnel were brought in.

Since then, despite the level of child poverty in the city increasing, fewer children are in care as a proportion of the population.