Herefordshire child protection services 'much improved'
Child protection services at Herefordshire Council are "much improved" and back in the control of the authority.
An intervention notice, imposed after Ofsted inspectors rated the service "inadequate" in October 2012, has been lifted.
It meant the council had been required to have an official improvement plan monitored by the government.
The notice was removed in recognition of the progress the council has made.
The 2012 Ofsted report raised concerns about a number of areas, including decision making, information sharing and stability of the workforce, leading the Department of Education to set out 31 criteria for the council to meet in its improvement notice.
In May 2014 a follow-up inspection moved the service on to "requires improvement".
Jo Davidson, director of children's wellbeing at the council, said: "Getting to this point has been a real team effort.
"It has taken a lot of soul searching, honesty, fierce debate and very hard work.
"We still have a long way to go in our mission to get to good and we are pleased that our progress so far has been recognised by the minister".