In the wake of Ofsted’s new inspection roadmap, local authorities are concerned about how they are going to fare up in the parameters set by the watchdog. It has even been claimed by Ofsted inspectors that it’s going to be a lot difficult for councils to attain the standards set under the no-notice inspection regime.

“I'm acutely conscious we are improving, but what I'm worried about is that we may not be improving fast enough to stay ahead of what I believe is a rising bar from Ofsted”, said chief executive of Sandwell council, Jan Britton. Nonetheless, they are trying everything possible to ensure that they get fair enough score from the watchdog, which has apparently raised its expectations.

It is believed that the way Ofsted is making leaps and bounds to improve children’s services, it has become a lot trickier for councils to pace their work. It has further been claimed that Kingston council lost its authority over its child protection responsibilities after Ofsted inspection declared their services totally inadequate. No matter how stern inspection was, it has been accepted by Kingston council that they failed in that parameter.

There is dire need for councils to raise the level of children services before they are being set straight by the watchdog.