A £375,000 funding boost will help to raise standards in Enfield’s children’s services and maintain their high rating.

The money will be used to hire nine more permanent staff to work on an improvement plan drawn up by education and children’s services watchdog Ofsted.

Enfield’s children’s services were rated good in all areas following an inspection visit by Ofsted in March – the second-highest rating below ‘outstanding’.

But the education watchdog outlined further areas for the council to work on.

The council needs to improve decision-making and quality of plans for children in need, the response to children missing from home, the response to children in private fostering and the provision of health information for care leavers.

A council report says hiring more permanent staff will allow it to reduce workloads to a reasonable level and cut its reliance on agency workers.

Last year, social workers were having to deal with between 31 and 36 cases – significantly higher than the 15 to 21 recommended in a pan-London agreement.

The extra money, which was agreed by cabinet members at a meeting on Wednesday (June 12), comes on top of a £600,000 investment in children’s social services that was made earlier this year.

Council leader Cllr Nesil Caliskan told colleagues the ‘good’ rating from Ofsted was “quite an achievement for the local authority in a context where other local authorities are not achieving good”.

She added: “It also reflects the investment we made a number of months ago in recognition of the fact that front-line staff make the difference in children’s services. That is ultimately reflected in the good rating that Ofsted provided.

“This is investment to focus on actions identified in the improvement plan, in addition to what has already been invested.”