Children's services to return to council in October

Staff working for a not-for-profit company set up by a council to run services for children will have their jobs transferred back into the authority in October.

Brighter Futures for Children (BFfC) was set up in December 2018 by Reading Borough Council after the authority's services were rated inadequate by Ofsted.

The council voted to bring the services back under its direct control at a meeting in January.

BFfC was created with the aim of improving services but Reading's children's services were judged to still require improvement in July 2024.

When the decision was taken earlier this year to bring the company's employees back in-house, council leader Liz Terry said BFfC had made "good progress".

In papers, the authority said BFfC staff will be transferred to the council on 1 October.

The council's corporate and HR policies will replace BFfC's policies, it said.

Staff were consulted about the move between 5 June and 7 July.

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