Dudley Council leaders have received a letter from the government department. It praises the authority’s “firm commitment” to driving improvements that will “secure high quality children’s social care services”.

The letter hailed the “sustained progress” around workforce issues and recognised that reliance on agency workers was “continuing to reduce”. It said despite the improvements, agency rates were still broadly high. But it praised the council for “a number of innovative approaches” that had been introduced to drive it down.

The letter concluded by saying trends demonstrated “positive progress across the breadth of services”. It said it was “vital” that the current momentum was maintained and that “progress does not lapse”.

The letter demonstrates improvements are continuing since the council’s children’s services were rated “inadequate” by Ofsted in April 2016. Since then, as well as regular monitoring visits by Ofsted, the authority has also been reviewed at six-monthly intervals by the Department for Education. Councillor Anne Millward, cabinet member for children’s services, said:

“We are pleased with the letter, which recognises the continuing improvements that are being made in children’s social care services and is a testament to the hard work of both officers and staff.

“I’m particularly pleased it makes reference to the efforts we have made to reduce our reliance on agency staff, which is ongoing. We also recognise, as the letter says, that we are only part of the way through our journey. But we are committed to doing all we can to get there.”