Our main aim is to protect and enhance the lives of the children of Reading. We help families find long-term solutions to ensure children lead happy, healthy and successful lives.
How we're improving services in Reading
On this page, we’re charting our improvement journey. We hope it gives you confidence in the hard work being done to improve the quality of services for children, young people and their families.
Improvement progress
We’ve put the chronology of our journey and improvements in order, with the latest appearing first.
We recognise there is still much work to be done but there is real determination at all levels to continue to make Brighter Futures for Children a success – and to carry on improving the lives of children and young people in Reading.
Our journey
November 2024: We reworked and republished the Ordinarily Available Provision and Graduated Response document for parents and education settings, co-working with partners, parents and young people on documents and visuals to make the offer clear for all.
September 2024: Our independent fostering agency (IFA) was rated Good for the second time by Ofsted.
September 2024: Our Mental Health Support Team announced it would be launching a third team, to extend and expand the ICB funded offer to all schools in Reading.
August 2024: We published our revised and improved care leavers’ local offer, which includes free prescriptions, free gym membership in Reading, extended tapered council tax relief and a widened offer for apprenticeships in the borough.
July 2024: Our ILACS report was published, showing significant improvement from 2019. While remaining Requires Improvement overall, the inspectors graded both experiences and progress of children in care and experience and progress of care leavers as Good.
July 2024: Reading joined forces with 19 other local authorities to form the Local Authority Fostering South East hub to increase the number of foster carers and provide collaborative support.
May 2024: Ofsted published its inspection report on Pinecroft children’s home, which provides shared-care support for children and young people with additional needs, following a full inspection in March 2024. The home was given a ‘Good’ rating overall, with the effectiveness of leaders and managers graded as ‘Outstanding’.
February 2024: BFfC’s Mental Health Support Team is shortlisted for ‘Medium team of the year’ at the annual LGC Awards 2024.
December 2023: Ofsted published its inspection report on Cressingham children’s home, which provides short breaks for children and young people with additional needs. The home was given a ‘Good’ rating in all areas. The inspection, which took place in November 2023.
November 2023: At the National Association of Family Information Services (NAFIS) Coram Family & Childcare conference 2023, Reading Family Information Service were nominated for two categories, ‘Best SEND Local Offer’ and ‘Best Promotion of the two year funding’. We are very proud to have won both awards at the national conference.
September 2023: Ofsted inspectors carried out a Focused Visit on Children in Care in Reading, concluding that services are improving and there are clear plans to make further progress. The report highlighted that most of the children were living in stable homes which met their needs, received child-focused support from committed social workers and enter care in a timely way, matched carefully with carers. The inspectors also found that decisions for children to come into care, or to return home, are made thoughtfully and are well informed by detailed and thorough assessments which senior managers oversee effectively.
March 2023: Reading’s voluntary adoption agency (VAA), which has corporate responsibility for all children in the borough who are in care and are waiting, or are ready, to be adopted, was rated ‘Good’ overall following an Ofsted inspection in January/February 2023. The VAA was judged ‘Outstanding’ for the effectiveness of leaders and managers and ‘Good’ for the overall experiences and progress of service users, taking into account how well children, young people and adults are both helped and protected. Read the Ofsted inspection report.
March 2023: Pinecroft children’s home, which provides shared-care support for children and young people with additional needs, was rated ‘Outstanding’ following a full Ofsted inspection in January 2023. The inspector said staff offer highly-personalised and well-planned care that meets children’s individual needs exceptionally well. Read the full Ofsted report and our press release for more details.
January 2023: Cressingham children’s home, which provides short breaks for children and young people with additional needs, was given an ‘Outstanding’ rating following a full Ofsted inspection in October 2022. Staff and management were praised for providing highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help, protection and care. You can read the full report and our press release.
November 2022: Reading Family Information Service won the award for Best Community Engagement at the National Association of Family Information Services Coram Family & Childcare Conference.
March 2022: Ofsted published the findings on its inspection of BFfC’s Independent Fostering Agency (IFA) and rated the IFA as ‘Good’ in all three inspection areas. You can read the full report here (and our press release).
March 2022: Ofsted published its report following a focused visit which looked at the arrangements for children in need and children subject to a child protection plan. The main theme of the Ofsted findings was that there had not been sufficient improvement since the last inspection. We welcome feedback from the inspectors and immediately enhanced our continuous improvement plan to ensure those areas which need greater focus and pace are addressed. You can read the full report on the Ofsted website.
November 2021: Reading SEND Local Offer won the award for Best SEND Local Offer at the National Association of Family Information Services Coram Family & Childcare Conference.
August 2021: Ofsted published its findings of a full inspection of our children’s home, Pinecroft, which took place between 23-24 June 2021. The home was rated ‘Good’ in all areas. You can read the full report here.
July 2021: Ofsted carried out a full inspection of our children’s home, Cressingham, between 20-21 July and awarded it as Outstanding in all areas, including the overall experiences and progress of children and young people. You can read the full report here.
July 2021: Finding of the Ofsted & CQC Local Area SEND inspection were sent to us and showed how much services had improved. You can read the letter here or view it on Ofsted’s website here.
June 2021: Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out a local area SEND inspection in Reading, looking at the effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of, and improving outcomes for, children and young people who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)
February 2021: Our continuing improvement journey reached a major milestone when it was officially confirmed that we had been removed from Government intervention.
In a letter to Reading Borough Council Leader Jason Brock, Vicky Ford, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families, confirmed she was lifting the Government direction with immediate effect.
The letter acknowledged ‘significant improvement’ since Ofsted’s inspection 5 years ago and the ‘hard work and commitment of all involved.”
March 2020: BFfC’s Independent Fostering Agency (IFA) moved out of its ‘Inadequate’ Ofsted status in its first inspection since the company took over the service in March 2019. The IFA was judged as ‘Requires improvement to be good’ in all three inspection areas (https://brighterfuturesforchildren.org/readings-fostering-service-no-longer-inadequate/).
February 2020: Cressingham became BFfC’s second children’s home to receive an Outstanding Ofsted judgement (https://brighterfuturesforchildren.org/outstanding-rating-for-our-short-breaks-childrens-home/).
October 2019: Reading’s children’s social care service moved out of its ‘Inadequate’ status, just 10 months after BFfC had taken over its operation. Inspectors rated the service as ‘Requires improvement to be good’ in all four judgement areas (https://brighterfuturesforchildren.org/readings-childrens-services-no-longer-inadequate/).
August 2019: One of BFfC’s children’s homes, Pinecroft, was judged Outstanding by Ofsted following an unannounced inspection visit (https://brighterfuturesforchildren.org/outstanding-rating-for-our-childrens-home/).
December 2018: Brighter Futures for Children was created as an independent, not-for-profit, company wholly owned by the council and took over the provision of education, early help and children’s services in Reading.