Setting

Sarah Newman Bi-Borough Executive Director of Children’s Services Westminster City Council 12 th Floor, Westminster City Hall 64 Victoria Street London SW1E 6QP

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Focused visit to Westminster children’s services

This letter summarises the findings of the focused visit to Westminster children’s services on 14 and 15 July 2026. His Majesty’s Inspectors for this visit were Vickie Brown and Christine Kennet.

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Focused visit to Westminster children’s services

Inspectors looked at the local authority’s arrangements and decision-making within the ‘front door’, including the response to children experiencing neglect and domestic abuse, 16- and 17-year-olds presenting as homeless, and the effectiveness of the local authority designated officer (LADO) services responding to concerns about children’s welfare.

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Focused visit to Westminster children’s 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

Since the last ILACS inspection, conducted in November 2024, when Westminster was judged to be outstanding, children have continued to receive high-quality support and benefit from highly effective services. Westminster children’s services continue to operate cohesively in a strong bi-borough arrangement with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, through a shared multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH).

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Headline findings

Leaders have a secure understanding of service strengths and areas for development. They have continued to strengthen practice since the previous inspection, including improvements that have enhanced responses to any concern about children’s welfare related to the actions of adults working with children, through the work of the LADO.

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Headline findings

A stable and experienced senior leadership team, supported by strong corporate leadership, share a clear commitment to improving outcomes for children and families. Children and families benefit from a stable, experienced and skilled 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 workforce. Practitioners work collaboratively with children and families to understand their all-round needs and circumstances, providing effective support and services which have a positive impact on outcomes for children.

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Headline findings

Leaders actively seek and use feedback from children, families and partners to inform and enhance social work practice and wider service development. Quality assurance activity is comprehensive and reflective, undertaken collaboratively with practitioners. This helps give leaders a clear understanding of the impact of social work practice on the experiences of children and families.

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Headline findings

The front door service provides timely and effective multi-agency responses to any concerns or risks concerning children. Most children and families receive support consistent with their level of need in a timely manner. Practitioners and managers demonstrate a clear understanding of risk and respond swiftly when children are at risk of harm. However, for some families, the quality of written agreements, as part of the safety planning process, is variable and they do not provide families with sufficient clarity to understand concerns about the care of children, the support that will be provided or what will happen if risks increase.

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Headline findings

Most children experiencing neglect, domestic abuse or homelessness receive timely and appropriate support that meets their needs and improves their circumstances.

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

◼ The quality and consistency of written agreements as part of safety planning for children and families. (Outcome 2, National Framework)

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Main findings

Children and families in Westminster continue to benefit from an effective early help service delivered by highly skilled practitioners who carefully consider families’ needs, histories, culture and circumstances. Practitioners ensure that support is provided at the earliest opportunity. When children’s needs change, effective communication and transitions between early help and statutory services are well planned and managed, resulting in children receiving continuity of support.

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Main findings

Partner agencies make timely and detailed contacts and referrals to the access to children’s services team (Access) and MASH when any concerns relating to children arise. Managers and practitioners undertake a comprehensive initial screening and analyse children and families’ all-round needs and any circumstances of concern. Children’s identity and culture are mostly well understood and reflected in practice. However, for some children, contact information does not always detail ethnicity, which can hamper an initial understanding of children’s unique circumstances.

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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. Leaders recognise this and have already implemented monitoring arrangements through the disproportionality dashboard to improve timely recording of children’s ethnicity. Once contacts progress to referrals and on to assessments, full aspects of identity are recorded.

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Main findings

Multi-agency working is a strength in Westminster. The co-location of safeguarding partners and specialist services promotes effective multi-agency information-sharing, enabling children’s circumstances to be fully understood. Management oversight of children’s records is effective and supports timely decision-making that is responsive to any changing needs or concerns for children and families.

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Main findings

Levels of need are well understood and applied consistently. Most children at risk of significant harm receive a prompt response, supported by effective multi-agency strategy meetings. These meetings are undertaken promptly, are well recorded and clearly identify the specific actions required to safeguard children.

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Main findings

Child protection enquiries and assessments are comprehensive and analytical. They provide a clear rationale for decisions and actions to reduce risks for children. However, for some children, the quality of safety planning is inconsistent. Plans do not clearly set out the support their families will receive or include sufficient contingency planning as to next steps should risks escalate.

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Main findings

Families whose first language is not English are well supported to understand concerns and share their views, through interpreters and the translation of documents.

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Main findings

Social workers build respectful and compassionate relationships with children and families. They demonstrate curiosity and persistence with kindness, empathy and respectful honesty to understand children’s lived experiences. Social workers recognise the importance of engaging with fathers and members of the wider family and their views are well incorporated into assessments and plans.

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Main findings

The emergency duty service (EDT) is well organised and works effectively with partner agencies to respond proportionately and promptly to children at risk of harm out of hours.

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Main findings

Children and families experiencing domestic abuse receive highly effective support from skilled and experienced social workers who recognise risk and respond appropriately to protect adult survivors and children. The co-location of the independent domestic abuse adviser within the MASH strengthens collaborative working and enables an early coordinated response. Social workers engage effectively with perpetrators of domestic abuse to understand and analyse any risks. This informs action planning with adult survivors and children to improve arrangements for their safety.

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Main findings

Children experiencing neglect benefit from the input of experienced social workers who understand cumulative harm and respond when children’s circumstances significantly deteriorate or risks increase. Social workers are persistent in seeing children alone to help understand their views, which are clearly incorporated into children’s plans.

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Main findings

When children aged 16 or 17 present as homeless, Access and EDT respond swiftly to assess their circumstances and secure their safety, including providing access to accommodation. Joint holistic assessments with housing services are completed without delay. Social workers understand well the local homeless protocol and relevant legislation relating to the rights and entitlements of children. They provide information to children to help them understand the options available to them. However, children are not offered access to an independent advocate to support them in considering their options, to help them to make informed decisions.

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Main findings

The LADO service continues to provide an appropriate and well-considered response to concerns about adults who may pose a risk to children. The previous inspection identified that improvements were needed in the consistency of the LADO’s response to concerns about children’s welfare. This has now improved significantly. Effective communication and information-sharing now ensure that children’s needs are considered promptly, with any risks clearly evaluated, with children receiving the support and services they require.

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Main findings

Social workers and managers speak with pride about working for Westminster. They describe a stable, caring and supportive organisation with a strong learning culture that values reflective practice and professional development. Leaders are visible and actively seek the views of practitioners.

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Main findings

Practitioners are experienced and highly skilled. They work systemically with children and families, taking time to understand each child’s unique circumstances and tailoring support accordingly.

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Main findings

Quality assurance and performance management arrangements are well established and effective. Leaders have a clear understanding of the quality of practice and the experiences of children and families. Hearing directly from children, families and partner agencies remains central to leaders in their quest to improve services for Westminster children and families.

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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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