Harrow Council's Children's Services are facing significant financial strain and heightened scrutiny regarding their handling of complaints, according to a recent meeting of the Governance, Audit, Risk Management and Standards Committee (GARMS). A report presented to the committee highlighted a potential budget overspend in children's services placements and statutory non-compliance with complaints procedures. These issues raise the potential for penalties and fines imposed upon the local authority, reputational damage to the Council due to publication of Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) outcomes, and sets a precedent for an increase in the number of complaints.

The Children's Services Directorate Risk Register Q2 report pack, available on the Harrow Council website here, outlined seven open risks, with two rated as red, indicating the highest level of concern. These include:

  • Statutory non-compliance with complaints procedures: This is identified as a new risk, raising concerns about the directorate's adherence to legal requirements and LGSCO guidelines. To address this, the directorate is planning to appoint an experienced Complaints Manager, consider the resource needs for the Complaints Service, determine which directorate should oversee the Complaints Service, and take the issue to the Directorate Improvement Board, all in Q3 2025/26.
  • Significant overspend on the Children's Services Placements budget: This is also a new risk, reflecting the increasing financial pressures on the directorate, driven by a lack of sufficiency in the market place driving up commissioning costs and significantly increasing costs in the market. To address this, the directorate is reviewing the existing Sufficiency Strategy.

The report pack stated that one risk, An Ofsted Inspection rating of Good is not achieved, was closed in Q2. According to the Children's Services Directorate 2025/26 Risk Register Q2, the Ofsted Inspection risk was closed in order to focus going forward on the underlying reasons why in service delivery terms the Council was rated as Requiring Improvement and the factors that led to this rather than the ambition to achieve a Good Ofsted rating.

These issues were brought to the forefront during a meeting on Tuesday 25 November 2025, where the committee reviewed the Children's Services Directorate 2025/26 Risk Register Q2. The report highlighted that the lack of a dedicated Complaints Manager and under-resourcing were contributing to the non-compliance issues. The report also noted that the lack of sufficiency in the market and the increasing costs involved now requires increased oversight and scrutiny of our services to address the significant and serious budgetary overspend in this area.

The GARMS committee reviewed the Annual Complaints and Ombudsman report and update on complaints against Members 2024/25. The report pack stated that the LGSCO received 122 complaints last year and investigated fifteen (12%) of these. It also stated that of the 15 investigated, twelve (80%) of these were upheld.

While the Annual Complaints and Ombudsman report and update on complaints against Members 2024/25 does not specify the nature of the 12 upheld complaints by the LGSCO, it does mention that a complaint within Children's services led to an LGSCO review that required the Council to report to Cabinet (October 2025). The recommendations within the report highlight the need for a review of complaints monitoring procedures within Children's services, as well as a comprehensive training and development programme for all staff in the service to understand the importance of complaints handling in a timely manner, thorough investigation with improved record keeping, and the improvements to the quality of communications and responses.

To address the budget overspend, the report stated that the directorate is reviewing the existing Sufficiency Strategy.