Sutton's Children's Services have been rated as 'Good' across all areas following an Ofsted inspection in June 2025, marking a significant achievement for the local authority. While the rating from the 2021 inspection is not explicitly stated, the Ofsted Inspection of Childrens Services 2025 Committee Report mentions that services have generally been maintained and improved since that inspection.
The overall judgement of 'Good' encompasses the impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families, the experiences and progress of children who need help and protection, children in care, and care leavers.
The report was discussed at the People Committee meeting on Thursday, 25 September 2025, where committee members reviewed the findings and an action plan to address areas identified for improvement.
Councillor Marian James, Chair of the People Committee, welcomed the positive outcome, highlighting the hard work and dedication of the staff involved. The report noted that since the previous inspection in 2021, services for children and care leavers have generally been maintained and improved. Specific improvements include:
- The Targeted Early Help Service (TEHS) offers effective support.
- Skilled, specialist support workers deliver intensive, bespoke packages of support.
- Parents and children accessing the parenting group program experience meaningful and transformative support.
- Disabled children have thoughtful, knowledgeable, and skilled social workers.
- An effective in-house therapeutic service offers targeted interventions.
- Children in care do well in school, supported by effective school arrangements and the designated safeguarding lead network.
- Care leavers receive an attentive service from dedicated personal advisers (PAs).
The Ofsted report commended the senior leadership team for injecting energy and pace to facilitate improvements to ensure that children and care leavers benefit from effective social care practice
.
Ofsted identified three areas for improvement:
- The quality and consistency of response to children who are looked after who go missing from home.
- The effectiveness of the initial response to children who are at risk of physical harm.
- The quality and robustness of leaders and managers' oversight of discrete areas of practice where there is not effective social work.
An action plan to address these areas has been implemented. Key components of this plan include:
- Increased investment in the corporate parenting service, including the appointment of a second service manager and recruitment for vacant management positions.
- Sharing best practices from locality teams regarding missing children.
- Developing commissioning arrangements for responding to missing children and conducting return home interviews.
- Holding a multi-agency workshop to review threshold guidance for physical harm.
- Issuing a practice directive to staff outlining expectations.
- Additional investment in service management arrangements at the Children's First Contact Service for enhanced oversight of decision-making.
To improve the response to children who are looked after and go missing from home, the action plan focuses on sharing best practices and developing commissioning arrangements. Furthermore, a multi-agency workshop was held to review threshold guidance for physical harm, and a practice directive was issued to staff outlining expectations.