Havering’s Children’s Services remains “unwavering in their commitment to ensuring that children and families get the support they need”, says its latest Ofsted monitoring letter.
The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspectors conducted their fourth monitoring visit to Havering Council’s Children’s Social Care department on 10 and 11 February 2026 where they spent two days examining the support offered to care leavers to prepare them for adulthood.
Inspectors reviewed how care leavers are helped to settle into employment, education and training, the quality of accommodation they were provided with, the risks they face and how services work to keep them safe.
Inspectors noted that despite significant pressures on the Council’s budget, corporate and political leaders have increased the investment into Children’s Services in order to help keep manageable caseloads for workers so they can continue to meet the needs of the borough’s most vulnerable children and care leavers.
The visit is the fourth in a series of ongoing monitoring visits by inspectors following an “Inadequate” Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services (ILACS) rating in December 2023.
The latest letter noted leaders are improving supervision, strengthening training and recruitment, and working to provide more stable relationships for care leavers.
The letter states “Progress has been made, but there is more to do to ensure more consistent planning and support that delivers benefits for all care leavers.”
Inspectors wrote, as a corporate parent, Havering has made important strides in promoting the meaningful involvement of children and care leavers in developing services. It said its participation approach involved more children and young people including disabled young people engaged in helping to shape the service.
“This is a strength, reflecting a strong commitment to listening to, valuing and acting on the voices of care-experienced children and young people,” said the letter.
Councillor Oscar Ford, Havering’s Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said:
“Children’s Services has taken great steps to improving both its service to young people and the training and support it provides to staff.
“As corporate parents, we have a shared responsibility to make sure our care experienced children and young people feel safe, supported and valued as they move into adulthood.
“This monitoring visit recognises the progress we are making, and I am pleased that inspectors saw the commitment of our staff and leaders to listening to care leavers and acting on what they tell us.
“I was pleased to see that the Cocoon, our care leaving hub, was described as providing an “excellent, accessible resource for care leavers who utilise the space for community get togethers, learning new skills and in the words of one care leaver, “somewhere to hang out”, reducing the isolation that this group of young people can feel.
“Inspectors said the sustained focus on education plans and securing routes into employment and training was having a positive impact on care leavers and complemented the work of the virtual school which provides education, employment and training opportunities for care leavers.
“Our staff were also praised, with practitioners bringing a wide range of skills and experience and that their commitment and passion for supporting young people was evident.”
He added: “Much of the interactions between staff and our care leavers is built on relationships, which has been impacted in some instances by workforce turnover and sickness absences. This makes it difficult for some young people to engage with their personal advisers and also for the workers to understand some of the young people’s histories and the things that are important to them.
“However, I am pleased to say that inspectors found that the recently recruited managers are beginning to make a positive difference by providing more consistent supervision and oversight of each young person’s care plans.
“The inspectors said leaders are making progress in strengthening services for care leavers, although further work is needed to ensure consistency of practice to support all children leaving care.
"This is something we will continue to keep at the forefront of our work, along with prioritising co-production with care experienced young people, to inform our policies and services.
“We remain committed to continuing our improvement journey, supported by our Department for Education colleagues. We are taking findings and feedback from each visit to develop the improvement and training work we are doing. This is ensuring we are developing more consistent support services.
“We remain determined to build on our progress and fulfilling our corporate parenting role so that every child and young person has the best possible chance for a positive future.”