The education watchdog says the council’s children’s services have "more to do" to improve support for care-experienced young people.

Regulator Ofsted found that outcomes for young people who had been in the care of the local authority “remain too inconsistent” due to delays in implementing required changes to its service.

The findings came in a report following Ofsted’s most recent monitoring visit of children’s services, two years after it received a rating of “inadequate” in December 2021, after “serious failures” were uncovered in a damning report.

Inspectors undertook its fifth monitoring visit of the service in November following a previous inspection in August.

The report noted that senior leaders recognise there is “more to do and at a greater pace to ensure that care-experienced young people in Bury receive a consistently good service".

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The report said: “External reviews of the care-experienced service in November 2022 and May 2023 provided leaders with a comprehensive understanding of the areas for improvement, resulting in a clear and appropriately focused plan.

“There has been a delay in implementing the changes needed and as a result outcomes for care-experienced young people remain too inconsistent.”

Inspectors found a “lack of management capacity at both service manager and assistant director level” resulting in “a reduced line of sight (meaning) a small number of care-experienced young people have not been receiving the support that they are entitled to.”

Inspectors also found issues with young people’s access to personal advisors, whose role involves offering support and advice to those leaving care aged 18.

Ofsted also found that some care leavers had not been allocated a personal advisor and some had not been in contact with the local authority for more than two years.

The report added: “The support available to young people in relation to their education, employment and training needs is inconsistent.

“For some young people, there is a lack of aspiration and creative thinking by PAs around supporting them back into education, employment and training (EET). This impacts on young people’s educational outcomes.”

“Care-experienced young people’s ability to access emotional and mental health support in Bury is a challenge.

“Some young people still wait too long to access mental health services.”

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However, the report stated that care leavers who are unaccompanied asylum seekers receive positive and skilled support from their personal advisors and that “young people’s identity, health and emotional needs are considered and met".

When a local authority is judged as "inadequate", Ofsted will carry out between four to six monitoring visits ahead of reinspection.

If, at the re-inspection, its overall effectiveness grade improves, that local authority will then enter the relevant inspection pathway. Should it remain "inadequate", monitoring visits will continue.

The council has been contacted for comment.