Merton Council's children's services have once again been recognised as 'Outstanding' following an Ofsted inspection in July, maintaining the rating from the previous inspection. The final Ofsted report was published on 27 August.

The Ofsted ILACS inspection highlighted that children and young people are at the heart of service design with participation well embedded across the system. Inspectors also focused on the quality and effectiveness of practice, highlighting the impact and child focused work of staff across the Children, Lifelong Learning and Families (CLLF) Department.

The Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Panel met on 10 September 2025, to discuss the departmental update, school places planning strategy, SEN student travel, and performance monitoring.

Departmental Update

The panel received an update on key developments within the CLLF Department. The Public reports pack stated that inspectors found that 'children and young people are at the heart of service design' with participation well embedded across the system.

The CLLF Department is currently facing challenges related to the number of Reception year surplus places. The department is continuing to negotiate reductions with schools for future years to address this challenge, as detailed in the Public reports pack.

Key discussion points regarding the school places planning strategy included managing surplus primary school places due to a falling primary school age population, maintaining secondary school place numbers despite a reduction in resident applicant numbers, and addressing the increasing demand for special school provision. Regarding SEN student travel, the panel was scheduled to look at ways of ensuring that effective and value for money school travel is achieved for students with special educational needs.