Councillors were told of 'very positive trends' in adult and children's care services as they assessed Hertfordshire County Council's performance monitor report for the third quarter of 2024/25.

The report was presented at a meeting of the county council's resources and performance cabinet panel on Friday, March 14.

The document highlighted key performances in several areas, including community protection & public health, adult care services, growth & environment, children's care services and resources.

Paraic McKenna, head of intelligence, improvement and technology at the council, told the meeting there were "some very positive trends" and highlighted the 'Good' Care Quality Commission rating of the council's adult care services, which was the highest of 14 local authorities who were assessed over the same period.

Mr McKenna said: "I'd also draw attention to positive progress in terms of supporting children and young people in education, employment and training, and particularly for care leavers as well, that has been an area of focus for the service.

"We've noticed the impact of inflation, for example, particularly on adult care services and of course the increased levels of referrals in both children's services and adult care services."

Among the key points of the report, it was revealed that new requests for support from adult care services had risen 18 per cent since before Covid, with waiting lists described as 'good'.

Of the 26 performance indicators for adult care service, four were in the top quartile, 11 in the second quartile, six in the third quartile and none in the lowest quartile. There were two increased risk scores, one in relation to funding and another to do with the failure of a significant care provider.

Meanwhile, children's services face a 12 per cent increase in referrals since Covid. The service has delivered an increase of 12 new in-house foster carers placements and a reduction of 13 independent foster carers. The service has a high usage rate of its foster carers which is currently 96 per cent.

In the area of community protection and public health, safety and wellbeing visits decreased to 2,434, with efforts ongoing to increase visits in the fourth quarter to residents who require them most. Ninety property fires were attended, with 75 reached within target and five reached within 30 seconds of the target.

Among growth and economy, the bus service improvement plan is to benefit in 2025/26 from a further £11 million. The council also has the ninth highest additional spend per mile in UK tackling potholes, recent government announcement of £9.5 million for Hertfordshire.