The children's services provided by the council has received a boost to its rating from education watchdog Ofsted after an inspection.

Oldham's children's services were inspected back in May after a previous inspection in 2019 which found the services required improvements.

However, the services have now been deemed to be "good" thanks to "a relentless focus on improvement" driven by the leadership.

The inspection report states that "significant financial investment" has gone into the services, which has stemmed from political and corporate commitment.

This in turn has led to many areas that required improvement having now been addressed.

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According to the report, "significant progress" has been made in the quality of assessments, as well as children’s plans and the work of the children with disabilities team.

Meanwhile, the report mentioned the support provided by the complex safeguarding team continues to be strong and leaders are said to have a good level of service in early help and at the "front door".

The report also points to care leavers receiving a good level or targeted support and that the services now had "robust mechanisms in place to ensure that rigorous management oversight further strengthens practice for children".

In terms of improvements, the Ofsted report stated that the council's services needed to provide consistent management oversight in relation to supervision and audit actions and needed to undertake life-story work for children in long-term foster care.

The report added the quality of return home interviews for children needed to improve to make sure that impact and outcomes can be appropriately measured.

Council leader, Cllr Arooj Shah, said: “I am absolutely thrilled with this outcome that reflects our commitment to keeping children safe and keeping families together. This is about saving lives and that’s what our teams do.

"Our dedicated social workers have shown their excellence and I couldn’t be prouder of them. 

“We’ve made giving children and young people the best possible start in life one of our top priorities, and this is a big step on the journey to achieving that. This was an intensive independent inspection and showed how committed our teams are and how their work is impacting children.   

“I’m pleased that the improvements we’ve made have been recognised by Ofsted and it shows that as an authority we are heading in the right direction to deliver for our residents.”  

Council cabinet member for children and young people, Cllr Shaid Mushtaq, added: “This is a fantastic result for our children’s services and places us as one of the fastest improving authorities in the country.   

“I’m so proud of our teams who have made this happen. They’ve shown that Oldham is a place where children are getting the best start in life and that by prioritising our young people, we can make a real difference in their lives and the quality of support we offer them.  

“A massive thank you and well done to the teams that have made this happen.”