Minister gives council a year to show it can keep control of children’s services following improvements
Immediate threat of transfer of services to trust removed from West Sussex after commissioner finds progress under new director and warns removing services from authority will risk deterioration
Vicky Ford, the children's minister (credit: Chris McAndrew / Wikimedia Commons)
Government plans to turn West Sussex council’s children’s services over to an independent trust have been put on hold for a year after its government-appointed commissioner found the authority had made progress under its new leadership.
On commissioner John Coughlan’s recommendation, children’s minister Vicky Ford has given the council a further 12 months to prove it should keep control of its services, a year after the government ordered the ‘inadequate’ authority to start setting up a trust.