Wandsworth's children's services have been rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted, a significant achievement for children, families, partners, and staff. The inspection found services to be outstanding in all areas, a result of sustained improvement and strong partnership working and unwavering focus on delivering the best possible outcomes for our children and young people here in Wandsworth.
Ofsted highlighted highly responsive and compassionate social work, skilled practitioners, strong leadership, and a committed workforce
as key factors in their 'outstanding' rating. The report also noted that Wandsworth has worked really hard to make Wandsworth a place where people want to come and practice social work, and that is based on our vision for practice with children and families that's rooted in values.
To support its social workers, the borough offers a workforce development offer and investment in our staff and supporting them to have the tools to be the best that they can be in a really challenging environment.
This investment aims to foster a culture that means that Wandsworth is a place where people want to come and work.
The only area identified for improvement was the recording of dynamic thinking about children's permanence plans. Inspectors noted that for a small number of children, the way this information is recorded on the system and communicated to children wasn't as strong as they would like it to be.
Wandsworth's children's services has submitted an action plan to Ofsted addressing this specific area.