Official Statistics

Main findings: Local authority inspection outcomes as at 31 March 2024

Published 30 August 2024

Applies to England

This is the main findings report for the local authority (LA) inspection outcomes as at 31 March 2024 release. This publication includes:

• main findings

• underlying data

• methodology report

• pre-release access list

Introduction

Out of the nearly 12 million children living in England, just over 400,000 (3%) are in the social care system at any one time. Nearly 84,000 of these children are in care.

Across England, 153 LAs are responsible for ensuring and overseeing the effective delivery of social care services for children who need help and protection, children in care and care leavers. We inspect these LAs under the inspections of local authority children’s services (ILACS) framework.

This official statistics release reports on the quality of LA children’s services as at 31 March 2024, as well as on our inspection activity between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024.

Key messages

The overall quality of LA children’s services in England has improved over the past few years. As at 31 March 2024, 60% of LAs were judged to be good or outstanding at their most recent inspection, compared with 53% as at 31 March 2022.

Of the 65 LAs that received more than 1 inspection under the ILACS framework, 26 LAs (40%) improved their overall effectiveness judgement compared with their first ILACS inspection, and 15 LAs (23%) retained a good or outstanding judgement. There were 12 LAs (18%) that had a decline in their overall effectiveness.

The quality of LA children’s services showed substantial variations at a regional level. The proportion of LAs judged as good or outstanding was highest in the London region (85%) and lowest in the North West (36%).

There was some variation in quality across the different judgement areas. Around 54% of LAs were judged as good or outstanding for their services for help and protection, while 65% were judged as good or outstanding for their services for care leavers.

Quality of LA children’s services as at 31 March 2024

Overall effectiveness

As at 31 March 2024, 151 out of 153 LAs in England had received a graded judgement inspection (standard or short inspection). The only 2 LAs that had not yet been inspected were Cumberland, and Westmorland and Furness, which were established in April 2023 to replace the former LA of Cumbria.

Of the 151 LAs inspected, 30 LAs (20%) were judged as outstanding at their most recent inspection, 61 (40%) good, 43 (28%) requires improvement to be good and 17 (11%) inadequate. Compared with the picture as at 31 March 2023, there was an increase of almost 4 percentage points in the proportion of LAs judged as outstanding, which equates to 5 LAs. There was also an increase of 2 percentage points (3 LAs) in the proportion of LAs judged as inadequate. The proportions of LAs judged as good or requires improvement to be good have both reduced.

Figure 1: LA overall effectiveness at their most recent inspection

^{Note: Numbers in brackets represent the number of LAs with an overall effectiveness outcome as at 31 March 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively. Due to rounding, percentages might not add up to 100.
View data in an accessible format.}

Of the 153 LAs in England, 65 had received more than 1 inspection under the ILACS framework as at 31 March 2024. Of these, 26 LAs (40%) improved their overall effectiveness judgement compared with their first ILACS inspection, and 15 LAs (23%) retained a good or outstanding judgement, as shown in table 1. There were 12 LAs (18%) that had a decline in their overall effectiveness judgement.

Table 1: Change in overall effectiveness for LAs that received more than 1 inspection under the ILACS framework as at 31 March 2024

Previous overall effectiveness judgement	Number of LAs that improved	Number of LAs that retained their judgement	Number of LAs that declined
Outstanding	-	5	1
Good	7	10	5
Requires improvement to be good	7	11	6
Inadequate	12	1	-

Regional level

The overall effectiveness of LA children’s services showed substantial variations at a regional level. However, proportions in this section should be treated with caution as they refer to low numbers.

In the London region, 85% of LAs were judged as good or outstanding – considerably higher than the national average of 60%. Conversely, in some regions, these proportions were much lower than average: in the North West, only 36% of LAs were judged as good, and none were outstanding; in the South West, 40% of LAs were judged as good or outstanding. The South West also had the highest proportion of LAs judged as inadequate (27%).

Figure 2: LA overall effectiveness at their most recent inspection, by region

^{Note: Numbers in brackets represent the number of LAs with a graded judgement. Due to rounding, percentages might not add up to 100.
View data in an accessible format.}

Inspection sub-judgements

During standard and short inspections, LAs receive the following graded judgements in addition to their overall effectiveness judgement:

• impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families

• experiences and progress of children in need of help and protection

• experiences and progress of children in care

• experiences and progress of care leavers

The care leavers judgement was introduced in January 2023. As at 31 March 2024, only 51 of the 151 LAs inspected had a graded judgement in this area. The experiences of care leavers were previously evaluated as part of the judgement ‘experiences and progress of children in care and care leavers’. This became a separate judgement following a consultation in summer 2022. Of the 51 LAs with a care leavers judgement, 23 LAs (45%) have a different judgement for children in care.

Figure 3 shows a breakdown of the judgement areas at the LA’s most recent inspection as at 31 March 2024. There was some variation in the quality of LA children’s services across the different areas. The lowest quality of practice was seen across help and protection, with only 54% of LAs judged as good or outstanding. Strongest practice was seen across experiences and progress of children in care and care leavers, where respectively 64% and 65% of LAs were judged as good or outstanding. The impact of leaders on social work practice was judged as outstanding for over a quarter of LAs (26%).

Figure 3: Inspection sub-judgements at the LA’s most recent inspection

^{Note: Numbers in brackets represent the number of LAs with a graded judgement in that area. Due to rounding, percentages might not add up to 100.
View data in an accessible format.}

ILACS inspection activity between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024

Between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, we visited 80 of the 153 LAs, on 96 different occasions. These included:

• 17 standard inspections

• 19 short inspections

• 34 focused visits

• 26 monitoring visits

ILACS standard and short inspections

While LAs that were previously judged to be good or outstanding usually receive a short inspection, those LAs that were previously judged as inadequate or as requires improvement to be good receive a standard inspection. Both standard and short inspections result in graded judgements.

Of the 36 standard or short inspections carried out between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, 25% (9 LAs) resulted in a judgement of outstanding, 44% (16 LAs) good, 14% (5 LAs) requires improvement to be good and 17% (6 LAs) inadequate.

Of the 36 inspected LAs, more improved (12 LAs) than declined (8 LAs) in their overall effectiveness judgement. There were 16 LAs that retained the same judgement.

Following a cycle of monitoring visits, we re-inspected 2 LAs that had been judged as inadequate at their previous inspection. Both LAs improved their overall effectiveness judgement to good.

ILACS focused visits

We carry out focused visits between standard or short inspections. These visits do not result in a graded judgement. A focused visit will look at one or more aspects of the service or themes or cohorts of children.

Of the 34 focused visits carried out, 16 were to LAs judged as requires improvement to be good at their last graded inspection. Details of visit themes are given in figure 4.

Figure 4: ILACS focused visits by theme between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024

^{Note: The category ‘Children in care’ also includes 1 visit where the theme was ‘Placement decision making for older children’.
View data in an accessible format.}

ILACS monitoring visits

Between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, we carried out a total of 26 monitoring visits across 11 LAs that had been judged as inadequate at their latest inspection. None of these LAs have yet been re-inspected.

Further information

Contacts

If you are a member of the public and have any comments or feedback on this publication, contact Clare Atkinson or the social care inspection insight team.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the following for their contribution to this statistical release: Giada Maugeri, Ben Clark-Betts, Jonathan Eastwood, Stephanie Povey, Patrick Thomson, Peter McLaughlin.

Glossary

Definitions of terms are in the statistical glossary.

Annex: data tables for figures

This section contains the underlying data in an accessible table format for all figures.

Data for Figure 1: LA overall effectiveness at their most recent inspection

Period	% Outstanding	% Good	% Requires improvement to be good	% Inadequate
As at 31 March 2024 (151)	20	40	28	11
As at 31 March 2023 (152)	16	43	32	9
As at 31 March 2022 (150)	13	41	35	12

See Figure 1.

Data for Figure 2: LA overall effectiveness at their most recent inspection, by region

Region	% Outstanding	% Good	% Requires improvement to be good	% Inadequate
East Midlands (10)	20	30	40	10
East of England (11)	27	36	27	9
London (33)	36	48	12	3
North East, Yorkshire and the Humber (27)	22	41	26	11
North West (22)	0	36	41	23
South East (19)	21	42	37	0
South West (15)	13	27	33	27
West Midlands (14)	7	50	29	14
England (151)	20	40	28	11

See Figure 2.

Data for Figure 3: Inspection sub-judgements at the LA’s most recent inspection

Region	% Outstanding	% Good	% Requires improvement to be good	% Inadequate
Overall effectiveness (151)	20	40	28	11
Impact of leaders (151)	26	36	27	11
Help and protection (151)	11	44	37	9
Children in care (151)	17	46	30	7
Care leavers (51)	18	47	29	6

See Figure 3.

Data for Figure 4: ILACS focused visits by theme between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024

Theme	Percentage
Front door	26%
Children in need/subject to a plan	35%
Achieving permanence	6%
Children in care	9%
Care leavers	24%

See Figure 4.