Harrow Council is facing increased scrutiny after a recent Ofsted inspection deemed its services for care leavers inadequate. The inspection, conducted in January 2025, found that while the council's children's services were generally good, the support provided to young people leaving care was lacking, leading to an overall judgement of inadequate. The report highlighted a deterioration in support for care leavers since 2020, with young people not receiving the right level of help, support, and protection.

The Council Response to the Recent Inspection of Local Authority Children's Services Report was discussed at a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday 8 July 2025, where councillors questioned the council's plans to address the issues raised by Ofsted1.

Councillor Paul Osborn, Leader of the Council, described the judgement as disappointing , explaining that the 'inadequate' rating in the care leaver service automatically resulted in an overall 'inadequate' rating. He stated that the issues were primarily related to the care leaver service, where cases had been closed earlier than they should have been. He also pointed out that the separate judgement for care leaver services is comparatively recent, leading to increased scrutiny in this area. He acknowledged that the council had accepted the findings and was committed to improving the service.

Parmjit Chahal, Strategic Director of Children's Services, explained that the leaving care service was amalgamated in 2020 with children looked after. Prior to 2020, there was a separate children in care service for under 18s and then a separate leaving care service for over 18s year olds until the age of 25. In 2020, following the ILACS inspection2, the decision was made to amalgamate those two teams. Ms. Chahal outlined the immediate actions taken, including reopening cases and increasing the capacity of the leaving care service. A standalone leaving care service has been established with three team managers and 15 personal advisors3.

Key Concerns Raised

  • Support for Care Leavers: The Ofsted report highlighted a deterioration in support for care leavers since 2020. Councillor Graham Henson raised concerns about personal advisors not being prioritised for training. Ms Chahal responded that all personal advisors were now being trained in working with older children in care. An experienced director of social care with expertise in leaving care from an outstanding authority has been brought in to provide training and development. There have already been a number of sessions and more are planned.
  • Housing: Concerns were raised about the availability of suitable housing for care leavers. Councillor Henson highlighted a case where there were more care leavers than available properties, leading to concerns about how decisions were being made about who received housing. He also raised concerns about the council housing people in houses in multiple occupation (HMOs)4. Ms Chahal acknowledged the national shortage of permanent one-bedroom properties but assured the committee that young people were being placed in suitable alternative accommodation.
  • Missing Care Leavers: The committee discussed the issue of missing care leavers, with Councillor Henson noting that a review of missing processes had resulted in all care leavers who go missing being discussed at the weekly missing meeting with police. Ms Chahal explained that this issue had arisen from two unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people who had gone missing.
  • Staffing and Resources: Councillor June Baxter asked how the adverse inspection findings had affected the morale of the existing team. Ms Chahal responded that while staff were disappointed, the council had not experienced high turnover and had been able to recruit additional staff.

Recommendations and Next Steps

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted the contents of the ILACS inspection findings and report, and the ILACS Improvement Plan. The ILACS Improvement Plan will be brought to overview and scrutiny in the autumn. The Department of Education Children's Services Improvement Board (CIB) meets monthly, chaired by the DfE appointed Improvement Advisor. The advisor provides progress reports on a six-weekly basis to the Department for Education. Scrutiny leads may receive a copy of the six-weekly report if the advisor consents. Councillor Henson suggested that if the report from the Department for Education advisor consents to the report being shared with scrutiny leads, it will be so shared and the scrutiny leads will nevertheless continue to follow up and be updated on this. The council aims to achieve an 'outstanding' rating for its care leaver services in the future, according to Councillor Osborn.

  1. Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills. They inspect and regulate services that care for children and young people, and services providing education and skills for learners of all ages. ↩

  2. ILACS refers to the Inspection of Local Authority Children's Services, which is Ofsted's framework for inspecting how local authorities provide services for children and families. ↩

  3. A personal advisor (PA) is a worker allocated to care leavers to provide support and guidance. ↩

  4. A house in multiple occupation (HMO) is a property rented out by at least 3 people who are not from 1 'household' (for example, a family) but share facilities like the bathroom and kitchen. ↩