Setting

Lin Ferguson Executive Director, Children’s Services and Education Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Town Hall St Ives Road Maidenhead SL6 1RF

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services

This letter summarises the findings of the focused visit to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead children’s services on 13 and 14 January 2026. His Majesty’s Inspectors for this visit were Rodica Cobarzan and Zafer Yilkan.

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services

Inspectors looked at the local authority’s arrangements for children in care. More specifically, inspectors focused on the quality of matching, placement and decision- making for children in care, the experiences and progress of disabled children in care and the experiences and progress of children living in unregistered provision.

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services

This visit was carried out in line with the inspection of local authority children’s services (ILACS) framework.

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Headline findings

Children in care benefit from a strong corporate parenting service that provides effective, multidisciplinary support which promotes their wellbeing, and helps ensure that children live in homes that meet their needs. Leaders, with strategic and political support, have continued to prioritise children in care, despite financial pressures. Corporately, leaders have continued to develop and invest in services, with a particular focus on support for families and kinship care, resulting in a tangible positive impact for children in care. The local authority’s kinship care offer has been strengthened since the last inspection in 2024, and leaders have other developments in place that are improving sufficiency of homes for children in care. Ofsted

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Headline findings

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 Textphone 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.gov.uk/ofsted

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What needs to improve in this area of social work practice? 1

◼ The timeliness of transition planning for disabled children in care. (outcome 4, national framework)

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Main findings

Children only come into care when it is necessary and appropriate for them to do so. Early and effective planning helps to ensure that most children enter care in a planned way, and this supports them to settle well. Permanence planning is highly effective and starts at the earliest opportunity. Social workers consider all permanence options for children until they identify what the right plan is for each individual child. Senior leaders work closely with social workers through a wide range of weekly permanence meetings to consider these options. This oversight is ensuring that children’s plans progress quickly.

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Main findings

Whenever possible, siblings are supported to remain together, and kinship options are thoroughly explored. There is a strong focus on reunification, when this is appropriate and safe. The families together team, as well as the wellbeing service, supports this work exceptionally well, resulting in children being supported well to successfully return to the care of their families when this is achievable and in their best interests.

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Main findings

Children who cannot safely remain with, or return to their family or kinship carers have their permanence confirmed as soon as possible, so that children have assurance and certainty about their future care arrangements.

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Main findings

Family time is considered sensitively and is a priority in planning for children. Children spend quality time with their extended family members, which helps maintain their family networks and their understanding of their identities.

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Main findings

Children’s care plans are up to date and written in child-friendly language that enables children to understand their plans and make progress in their lives. Regular reviews and oversight by the independent reviewing officers helps to ensure that children’s plans continue to meet their needs. Children’s participation in their reviews is successfully promoted. Some children chair their reviews, and when necessary, they have access to advocacy. Review minutes are thorough, with all children written to about the outcomes of their reviews. There is continued focus on ensuring that all letters are written in line with children’s needs and levels of understanding.

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Main findings

Children’s educational, employment or training needs are prioritised, with dedicated support from the virtual school. Children benefit from regular personal education plan meetings which focus on their achievements and the support they might need.

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Main findings

1 The areas for improvement have been cross-referenced with the outcomes, enablers or principles in the Children’s Social Care: National Framework . This statutory guidance sets out the purpose, principles for practice and expected outcomes of children’s social care. This enables children to make excellent progress in their education and to progress with their ambitions.

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Main findings

Children in care are supported by their carers or ‘Kickback’ (Children in Care Council) to access a wide range of recreational activities, such as a summer camp, cooking workshops, drama sessions, gym, and a variety of trips. These have a positive impact on children’s confidence and skills and help them to build lifelong memories.

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Main findings

The early identification of needs through the use of strengths and difficulties questionnaires results in children swiftly accessing direct or indirect emotional support from the systemic wellbeing service. This collaborative early intervention work helps to stabilise their emotional or mental health needs and minimises disruption for children.

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Main findings

Children’s health needs are appropriately met and prioritised. However, there is inconsistency in the timeliness of children having their initial health assessment when they first enter care. Leaders are working with health agencies to address this.

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Main findings

Social workers know their children well and celebrate their achievements and ambitions. Children are seen alone, as often as necessary. Stable relationships with children enable social workers to undertake effective direct work, including life-story work that supports children through various stages in their care journey.

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Main findings

Disabled children in care live in homes that meet their needs. When necessary, children are supported by effective multidisciplinary teams, so that they receive the support they need to do well. Social workers use a range of communication methods that are appropriate for each child’s individual needs. This ensures that their voices are heard and understood.

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Main findings

Preparation and planning to support children to transition to adulthood does not happen early enough. This leaves some disabled children and their parents and/or carers unprepared and uncertain about their futures.

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Main findings

A very small number of children live in unregistered, unlawful children’s homes. Decisions to place children in these homes are rare and made only when the local authority believes this to be a last resort. Extensive efforts are made to support children while they live in these homes, while registered homes are identified. However, while some children move to registered provisions quickly, some remain in these settings for longer than senior leaders anticipate, primarily due to a lack of sufficiency of appropriate local or national provision.

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Main findings

Achieving for Children (AfC) provides children’s services for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. Governance arrangements between the local authority and AfC continue to be effective and children benefit from this. There have been significant improvements in the stability of the workforce since the last inspection in 2024. A strategic focus on recruitment and retention, with ‘grow our own’ initiatives, has resulted in less reliance on agency staff and a reduction in staff turnover. Staff are enthusiastic about working for AfC. This improved workforce stability has had a positive impact on children, who experience less change in their social workers.

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Main findings

Leaders have a clear focus on ensuring that social work capacity and caseloads remain manageable. This enables practitioners to focus on children and build strong, relationship-based practice. Social workers are well supported through management oversight and supervision, which is mostly timely. This helps to progress children’s plans effectively.

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Main findings

A new children’s recording system has been implemented. This is having a positive impact on social work practice, performance management and reporting, with further developments planned once the full implementation is completed.

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Main findings

Sufficiency of homes for children in care continues to be an area of challenge. Leaders have taken positive steps, are ambitious and have credible plans to develop further. There is well-developed work, including with the regional fostering hub and the Regional Care Cooperative to explore long-term options. In-house initiatives include increased support to carers, a systemic therapist, the wellbeing team’s support with the stability of homes, and the recent opening of a children’s home.

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Main findings

A wide range of audit activity is undertaken; this provides leaders with a clear understanding of the quality of practice. This quality assurance work is further strengthened by the routine ‘deep dives’ and close performance monitoring. These activities collectively provide leaders with an accurate measure of the quality of practice and the areas in which improvements are needed to further strengthen practice.

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Main findings

Children in care are a priority for the council and corporate parenting responsibilities are a priority for all, including the elected members and the chief executive. The Corporate Parenting Forum is co-chaired with children and young people. Children in care who met with inspectors during the visit said that they value ‘Kickback’, as well as other forums where their voices influence decisions about their futures.

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Main findings

Ofsted will take the findings from this focused visit into account when planning the next inspection or visit.

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