Since 1 January 2008, the Children Act 2004, which followed the Victoria Climbié inquiry and the “Every Child Matters” Green Paper, has required local authorities to have a single director of children’s services with responsibility for education and children’s social services. This single officer provides a clear line of accountability for, and strong leadership of, all children’s services.
Inspectorates assess the effectiveness of children’s services. Until 2008, Ofsted made an annual performance assessment (APA) of each council’s children’s services. Inspectorates undertook a joint area review (JAR) of children’s services in each local authority area during the period from 2005 to 2008.
From 2009, APAs and JARs will be replaced by a new comprehensive area assessment (CAA), led by the Audit Commission and including Ofsted and other relevant inspectorates. CAAs will report annually on services, including children’s services, in each local authority area. Ofsted will lead a programme to inspect children’s safeguarding and services for looked-after children, in each local authority area every three years. Inspectors may also decide to carry out inspections on other services, should a CAA report indicate that they are poor and not improving.