AGGRIEVED over the “overly harsh” judgement by Ofsted that its work with youngsters leaving care had “deteriorated” since 2014, Bournemouth council has produced an 11-page report disputing its findings.

Reviewing their own work after the August report by the education watchdog, council officers say they are “unclear” as to how its work could be judged to have declined and say that the conclusion was “overstated”.

The council’s children’s services department was inspected by Ofsted in July with its determination that it ‘requires improvement’ made public the following month.

Ofsted said that many young people were not supported “effectively” and said that the quality of work had deteriorated since its previous inspection in 2014.

In September, the council’s director of children’s services said that they would have appealed the education watchdog’s rulings had it been possible.

Sue Ross said that it had introduced a number of measures over the four years and that its judgement was “unfair”.

Following that, the council has carried out its own review, comparing the quality of work from 2014 to 2018.

Nine areas of its work with care leavers are examined in the report, with it determining that improvements have been made in six with the situation deteriorating in only three.

Work to keep in contact with people leaving the system; the proportion of people in ‘suitable accommodation’; and the number of people securing education, training or employment are all deemed by the council to have deteriorated from 2014 to 2018.

However, it has judged that six other areas have improved, including the number of care leavers going to university or taking up apprenticeships.

The report says: “Whilst the service has recognised and acknowledged the findings from the Ofsted inspection and consider that there were aspects of the work we do with care leavers that have not improved since the inspection of 2014.

“The current services are significantly improved since 2014. Ofsted’s conclusion is therefore at odds with the analysis.”

The report will be considered by members of the council’s children’s services scrutiny committee on Thursday.