Children's services across Warwickshire require improvement in a number of areas, a public watchdog has found.

The latest Ofsted report into Warwickshire County Council's children's services found it 'required improvement' in three of four key areas.

'Regular' use of unregistered homes to house children in care was one of the key areas highlighted following a recent inspection.

The report said: "While recognising the local authority's ambitions for the pathfinder to enhance services for the future, current frontline help, protection and care for children are not consistent. 

"Weaknesses in oversight, supervision and decision-making are limiting the impact of frontline practice in important parts of the service. 

"Some of the areas of improvement which were identified at the last inspection have not been fully addressed."

The impact of leaders, experiences of children in care and experiences of children who need help and protection were all labelled as 'requires improvement to be good'.

Just the experiences of care leavers was rated 'good'.

Areas for improvement identified in the report include: 

• Use and oversight of unregistered children's homes. 
• Consistency in child protection responses and supervision practices. 
• Continued embedding of new systems under the Families First programme. 
• Enhancing permanence planning and stability of care. 

The report continued: "While children and young people are generally well supported, some children experience delays in their needs being assessed, and for a small number of children, the initial response is not sufficiently robust to reduce risk or prevent additional harm. 

"Leaders have made fairly regular use of unlawful unregistered provision for some children in care."

Ofsted did find the council has improved the response to disabled children and those experiencing "extra-familial harm".

Strengths highlighted in the report include: 

• Launch of Family Connect and Family Help services for early and targeted support. 
• Establishment of Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams (MACPT) and expansion of Family Network Meetings. 
• High staff morale, visible leadership, and an open learning culture. 
• Strong multi-agency collaboration and restorative practice. 
• Effective support for care leavers, children at risk of exploitation, and homeless 16–17-year-olds. 
• Positive use of trauma-informed approaches and direct work with children. 
• Effective planning and partnership working for children with disabilities. 
• Robust oversight of elective home education and professional risk management. 

Nigel Minns, executive director for children and young people at Warwickshire County Council, said: "The six months the Ofsted inspection focused on were a period of significant change for the council's children's services. 

"As a Families First for Children pathfinder we were in the process of implementing new systems and approaches. 

"These changes involved a major restructure, and we recognise that we are still on our journey to embed new ways of working. 

 "The resulting report reflects our work to transform services and the strong foundations we've built, yet highlights some areas for improvement. 

 "Whilst we are disappointed with Ofsted's overall judgment of 'requires improvement', the many areas of good practice highlighted must reassure residents and partners of the good work taking place in Warwickshire."

See the full report here.