Slough local authority children’s services

Inspection of Slough local authority children’s services

p.1

Inspection dates: 6 July 2026 to 17 July 2026

p.1

Lead inspector: Claire Beckingham, His Majesty’s Inspector

p.1

Judgement Grade

The impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families Inadequate

p.1

Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of children who need help and protection Inadequate

p.1

Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of children in care Inadequate

p.1

Judgement Grade

The experiences and progress of care leavers Inadequate

p.1

Judgement Grade

Children’s social care services in Slough are managed by Slough Children First (SCF), a company established in April 2021 and owned by Slough Borough Council. Since the last ILACS inspection in 2023, the service provided to children has deteriorated. Widespread and serious weaknesses in Slough’s help and protection services result in children being left in unsafe situations for too long, with some being seriously harmed.

p.1

Judgement Grade

Children in care in Slough have positive education outcomes underpinned by the highly effective Virtual School (VS) working alongside and assisting social workers, schools and carers. However, churn in social workers and poor arrangements for progressing care plans mean that children are subject to delays in achieving permanence, actions in plans drift for months and, sometimes, years. Leadership and management oversight of some of the most vulnerable children is very weak. Some children in care are left in inappropriate and harmful homes.

p.1

Judgement Grade

Slough has been judged to provide services that are inadequate or require improvement to be good for 15 years, meaning that many care leavers have had a poor experience of their corporate parent for their whole care journey. In November 2025, Ofsted made an area for priority action following a focused visit when it was found that a significant number of 18- to 21-year-old care leavers’ cases had been closed prematurely. Eight months after this visit, there remains a lack of clarity about Inspection of Slough local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 who is entitled to services. Inspectors found the local authority had not maintained contact with care leavers who need help, including those in custody and care leavers who are homeless or vulnerable. While leaders were responsive to each care leaver identified during this inspection, there remain many more for whom practice has not been sufficiently swift or curious in locating and helping them.

p.1

Judgement Grade

Slough has a long legacy of instability in leadership, and this has continued to undermine progress across services. The new and experienced leadership team, whose members arrived in March 2026, identified the full extent of the challenges, including staff being unable to raise concerns about culture and practice, high caseloads, inadequate resources, weaknesses in information systems and children receiving inadequate protection, care and support. The local authority’s self- evaluation is unerringly accurate. Plans targeting the areas of most significant and serious deficit are in place to support improvement, but all are in their infancy, and it is too early to assess their impact.

p.2

What needs to improve? 1

◼ Prioritising the identification of, and service provision for, the most vulnerable and at-risk children and care leavers, including those being exploited, disabled children and care leavers, children in private fostering arrangements, children in unregistered and illegal homes, children in supported accommodation, care leavers in custody, care leavers who are parents and homeless care leavers. (outcome 2, national framework) ◼ The application of thresholds across services to ensure that those who need support are helped at the right level. (outcome 2, national framework) ◼ The timeliness and effectiveness of safeguarding responses to children and care leavers when they experience abuse, harm and exploitation. (outcome 2, national framework) ◼ The quality of practice and the timeliness of progressing children’s and care leavers’ plans, including permanence and transition planning. (outcome 4, national framework)

p.2

What needs to improve? 1

◼ Oversight and scrutiny by corporate leaders. (leaders drive conditions for effective practice, enabler 2, national framework) ◼ The capacity of practitioners and managers to meet need across teams and services. (leaders drive conditions for effective practice, enabler 3, national framework)

p.2

What needs to improve? 1

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. Inspection of Slough local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026

p.2

protection: inadequate

1. The application of thresholds across help and protection is not consistent. Children are not receiving help at the right level, with some families being subjected to unnecessary levels of statutory intervention and others left at risk of harm. While Slough does have pockets of stronger practice, such as responding to children who go missing, there are serious weaknesses across several areas, including the local authority designated officer (LADO) service, services for disabled children and the response from the ‘front door’ when children have come to the attention of the commissioned Emergency Duty Service. Management oversight and direction are not sufficiently robust across all teams. Actions are not sufficiently revised in response to new safeguarding information, and decision-making is overly optimistic, despite indicators of ongoing risk.

p.3

protection: inadequate

2. Children and families are not always able to access early help services promptly and when needed. Threshold assessments are duplicated during the ‘step- down’ process to early help, and some families are placed on a waiting list for early help support. While leaders have increased capacity and reduced the list, too many families are still not receiving support. For some families, this leads to parental disengagement and families not accessing the help they need. There is limited interim engagement with families or oversight to mitigate any emerging risks for those waiting.

p.3

protection: inadequate

3. The timeliness of decision-making and progression of work in the multi-agency safeguarding hub is inconsistent and is impacted by the volume and complexity of work. Thresholds are not consistently applied and decision-making lacks sufficient robustness. These deficits are leaving many children exposed to ongoing risk. Insufficient recognition of risk and inconsistent advice to referrers are undermining confidence in the local authority.

p.3

protection: inadequate

4. When children are discussed at child protection strategy discussions and decisions are made to progress to child protection enquiries, partner agencies contribute and information is shared. Decisions to progress to an initial child protection conference are well reasoned. However, interim safeguarding measures and decisions not to progress are not routinely consistent with the level of presenting risk. The vulnerability of brothers and sisters is not always considered, and next steps do not protect all children well enough.

p.3

protection: inadequate

5. The quality of assessments and plans for children in need and children in need of protection is variable. Historical information and the impact of cumulative harm on children is not sufficiently recognised and responded to. Some assessments lack depth and professional curiosity, resulting in the needs of children not being clearly identified. Children’s plans drift and decisive action is not being taken when longstanding concerns persist despite continued involvement. Meaningful exploration of family networks is not embedded in practice. Slough has a diverse demographic of families. This is well recognised Inspection of Slough local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 and most assessments do consider and describe children’s ethnicity, culture, religion and uniqueness, with analysis about how these factors mitigate or increase vulnerabilities. In some assessments, practitioners included direct work

p.3

protection: inadequate

and incorporated children’s wishes and feelings throughout. Assessments and plans for unborn babies were of notably higher quality, particularly those completed recently. For these children, there was a stronger recognition of risk.

p.4

protection: inadequate

6. Support for families affected by domestic abuse is variable. Reduced capacity in internal support programmes for victims and perpetrators has created a void in support. Weaknesses in information-sharing between social workers and coordinated domestic abuse support means that children and families are not protected from ongoing emotional and physical harm.

p.4

protection: inadequate

7. Disabled children are not being consistently safeguarded. Significant staffing pressures in the service is having a negative impact on workers’ capacity to undertake core social work responsibilities. Assessments, plans and reviews are not always up to date. Indicators of harm are not always recognised and responded to as a child protection issue. Management oversight is inconsistent and does not provide sufficient challenge or direction.

p.4

protection: inadequate

8. Not all children who need to be subject to child protection planning are supported at this level; those who are at this level receive an inconsistent service. For some, the work is focused and helps to reduce risks. However, when risks reduce, decisions for some children mean they are prematurely stepped down from child protection without sustained changes being made or sufficient support being provided. Children subject to long-term or repeat plans have experienced a start again approach to recurrent risks.

p.4

protection: inadequate

9. Leaders have recently improved their oversight of work completed under the Public Law Outline, but this activity is not yet having sufficient impact on reducing delays for children in pre-proceedings and proceedings. Practice is not effective in diverting children from court, meaning that some children and families are involved in court processes unnecessarily.

p.4

protection: inadequate

10. The identification and support for privately fostered children are weak, with practitioners and managers not understanding or fulfilling local authority statutory responsibilities. Children have been left in unassessed arrangements with no oversight or support. There has been recent work completed to address this, but assessments are still not robust in assessing risk or promoting welfare.

p.4

protection: inadequate

11. Services for 16- or 17-year-old children who are at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness have improved since the last inspection. Children’s needs are being identified more effectively through joint housing assessments and a routine offer of advocacy to children. Not all children’s records accurately document assessments, decision-making and the reasons for decisions taken.

p.4

protection: inadequate

12. Children who are young carers are not consistently identified and referred for help and support services, which prevents these children having opportunities Inspection of Slough local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 to participate in activities and experiences that are not shaped by the demands of providing care for others.

p.4

protection: inadequate

13. Children still in the care of their families who are at risk of exploitation and those who go missing mostly receive responsive and targeted interventions focused on disruption activity and reducing risk. Return home conversations are persistently offered, and when these are taken up, workers are curious about the reasons behind missing episodes. While the targeted work from the RISE (Restorative, Inspired, Supportive, Engaging) adolescent service is impactful in reducing missing incidents and diverting children away from those who exploit them, some children are stepped down from exploitation work too quickly, with over optimism based on very recent change and not on lasting progress.

p.5

protection: inadequate

14. The LADO service is not operating as an effective or sufficiently assured safeguarding function. Leaders lack oversight of service quality, statutory compliance and investigation outcomes, with considerable weaknesses in recording systems and quality assurance. Processes are not being followed to safeguard children from adults working with them who may pose a risk.

p.5

protection: inadequate

15. The Emergency Duty Service (EDS) is a shared commissioned service. The service is effective and decision-making is robust. However, there are delays in responses from Slough once referrals are received from EDS, which results in children remaining at risk for longer than necessary. Leaders had already identified this as a serious issue, and plans were underway to strengthen the interface between Slough and EDS at the time of the inspection.

p.5

protection: inadequate

16. Leaders have not implemented systems that provide an accurate understanding of children missing education or those who are electively home educated. Weaknesses in oversight mean that too many children are not receiving an education that promotes their wellbeing or future success, and leaders are not well sighted on who the most vulnerable children are.

p.5

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

17. Children in care described many positive experiences, including stable homes and good educational support, helping them to achieve. Most children are supported to engage in a range of hobbies and activities that they enjoy. However, their experiences and progress are significantly hampered by inconsistent social work relationships, delays in the provision of support and poor communication, which impacts on their confidence in their corporate parents.

p.5

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

18. Decisions to bring children into care when they are experiencing immediate harm are the right decisions for those children. However, some children remain in unsafe situations for too long.

p.5

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

19. High social worker and manager turnover results in children often experiencing multiple changes in social worker, making it difficult for them to establish Inspection of Slough local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 meaningful relationships. Social workers do not always receive adequate supervision or guidance when they start working with new children, limiting their understanding of children’s needs and care plans and compounding drift.

p.5

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

20. Most children are visited within statutory timescales. However, for some children, visiting is not increased when they are experiencing harm, disruption or distress and they require more support. In stronger work, social workers do go above and beyond to settle, comfort or simply be there for children, including making additional visits for special occasions.

p.6

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

21. Placement planning is ineffective for some children. Poor assessment and matching processes mean some placements cannot meet children’s needs. Children experience delay in achieving permanence and security because permanence planning lacks strong oversight and accountability. For some children, this means long periods with nobody progressing searches or actions to help them move to their long-term homes. For others, it is a lack of psychological security as a consequence of not being formally matched with their carers.

p.6

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

22. Leaders have reviewed and discharged almost all care orders for children subject to Placement with Parents regulations, almost eliminating arrangements in which children live with their parents while subject to statutory child in care processes. However, some children’s arrangements ended without an updated assessment of their safety or updated consideration of their support needs.

p.6

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

23. Some children experience delays in special guardianship orders being made because financial arrangements discourage carers from pursuing permanence. Leaders have recognised the problem and are taking action. Kinship assessments are generally robust and child focused, but delays in completing some assessments reduce stability and certainty for children and carers.

p.6

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

24. Arrangements for family time are inconsistently implemented, and there is a failure to help some children develop and sustain enduring relationships.

p.6

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

25. Direct work and life-story work are completed with most children, but the value of this is variable. Some workers have limited confidence and expertise, and this is limiting the quality and breadth of life-story work completed.

p.6

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

26. Most children receive appropriate health, emotional wellbeing and mental health support. Their needs are generally recognised and responded to, with schools also providing strong wraparound support.

p.6

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

27. Child in care reviews are timely and most result in clear targeted plans. However, independent reviewing officer (IRO) involvement is not meaningful for all children. Most children’s records show that IROs regularly challenge drifting plans and highlight how changing workers and managers affects children's daily lives. Some escalations do result in plans being progressed, but many escalations have limited traction due to changes in social workers and managers continuing. Inspection of Slough local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 28. Responses to children in care who are at risk of criminal or sexual exploitation are not sufficiently effective. Risk assessment tools are not used consistently and safeguarding planning lacks coordination. When actions to make children safer are identified, the implementation is not always quick enough.

p.6

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

29. Some 16- and 17-year-olds are living in supported accommodation without a clear assessment of whether these children have care or support needs. Some children require care, and supported accommodation is not right for them.

p.7

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

30. Children living in illegal, unregistered children’s homes are not adequately safeguarded, and practitioners do not always recognise and respond to incidents that indicate risk has increased. Some children remain in these placements longer than necessary.

p.7

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

31. Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children generally receive a stronger service. Most live in stable homes where cultural, religious, educational and health needs are supported and where planning for their independence and next steps is thorough.

p.7

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

32. Experiences for disabled children in care vary. Some receive effective support and timely permanence planning, while others experience delays, assessments that do not reflect their changing needs and poor planning for transition to adult services.

p.7

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

33. The VS demonstrates clear ambition and high expectations for children in care, so that many children are educationally successful. The VS is committed to doing with rather than doing to, ensuring that children’s voices and needs shape decision‑making. A robust personal education plan process is embedded, with children’s voice central to every decision. Communication between schools, families and social workers is facilitated effectively. Children in care achieve well. They attend education regularly, settle into school routines and manage their behaviour positively. The VS’s work ensures that children experience stability, aspiration and consistent educational support.

p.7

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

34. The fostering service provides largely safe and stable care. Foster carers value the support available, particularly through the structured support model, and feel respected by the service. Children with the most effective foster carers have a better experience than their peers.

p.7

The experiences and progress of children in care: inadequate

35. The adoption service has a strong emphasis on identity, therapeutic support and maintaining family connections. Adoption assessments are comprehensive, analytical and child focused. However, some adopters report delays, inconsistent communication from children’s social workers and a lack of process clarity. Support from the regional adoption social workers for adults is stronger than that from children’s social workers. Inspection of Slough local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026

p.7

The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

36. Too many care leavers do not receive timely, purposeful or effective support. Slough has still not contacted many of those care leavers aged 18 to 25 to whom support was ceased without them having received the services they were entitled to. Some poorly managed attempts to establish contact have themselves caused distress to young people and their families. For a few care leavers, contact has been made and the service has been able to assist them with any support needs or difficulties they are experiencing.

p.8

The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

37. While personal advisers (PAs) are allocated to children in care early enough for relationships to be established, many care leavers in Slough do not have regular communication with their PAs. Some PAs are not sure how often care leavers should be visited. The frequency of visits is affected by workload pressures and capacity challenges. This is limiting the impact of PAs in mitigating risks and helping care leavers succeed as adults. For a minority of care leavers, it is evident that they are supported by PAs who they value and trust.

p.8

The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

38. Delays in transition planning, including staying put arrangements, create unnecessary uncertainty for care leavers at key stages in their lives. Care leavers describe feeling overwhelmed, underprepared and unclear about their entitlements and what the available support is as they approach adulthood.

p.8

The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

39. The local offer sets out what care leavers are entitled to. It contains the essentials and is written clearly, but it is not aspirational and its impact is limited. Care leavers are unaware of the offer and receive inconsistent advice about it. Many care leavers experience financial hardship. Some care leavers miss meals to pay for travel to education because they are not aware they are entitled to financial support, while others experienced months of delays in receiving financial payments they were due because of convoluted administrative processes.

p.8

The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

40. The quality of pathway plans is variable; most plans lack sufficient detail and are not updated to reflect changing circumstances.

p.8

The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

41. While a recent investment in staffing is positive and likely to improve capacity over time, the newly appointed PAs are largely inexperienced and some lack confidence. The new PAs require continued support and development to understand the processes, partnership working and services available in order to provide effective support. The service has high workloads. While some recent supervision is stronger, supervision has mostly been infrequent, with actions not followed through. This means that PAs are both overwhelmed and lacking guidance to fulfil the basics of their role while they gain the experience they need.

p.8

The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

42. Practice for care leavers in custody is very weak. Many experience prolonged periods without an allocated PA and extremely long periods with no contact or Inspection of Slough local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 help to plan for their release. Some care leavers were recalled to prison without ever seeing a PA while in the community.

p.8

The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

43. The current ineffective response to care leavers at risk of exploitation is leaving them at risk of further harm with poor decisions about where they should live. For a small number of care leavers, safeguarding concerns were known but not explored with sufficient professional curiosity.

p.9

The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

44. Care leavers’ mental health needs are recognised within supervision and pathway planning but not consistently translated into effective action. Health planning does not always focus on how identified needs will be addressed.

p.9

The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

45. Care leavers who were formerly unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are mostly receiving a strong service. These care leavers are provided with support to address and progress their immigration status. Triple planning is evident within pathway plans, which ensures that young people are clear on the range of options available to them while they await the outcome of their claims. The work of a specialist adviser in tracking asylum status means that care leavers approaching the end of the appeals processes are highlighted for human rights assessments promptly.

p.9

The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

46. Care leavers who are parents receive a poor offer of support. Some experience positive relationship-based practice, while others are emotionally supported by alternative professionals, such as staff in the VS. For others, there is no recognition of them being parents. For most, there is no evidence of additional support or of signposting them to universal services.

p.9

The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

47. Disabled care leavers do not receive a coordinated or effective response to their needs or planning for their futures.

p.9

The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

48. The VS ensures that care leavers receive a tailored and ambitious programme of support as they prepare for adulthood. Effective transition planning is central to the VS’s impactful work. Leaders triangulate pupil progress data meticulously to determine the most appropriate pathway for each learner. Support for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children is particularly effective. The VS is tenacious in advocating for these young people and works creatively to overcome barriers, ensuring access to educational opportunities and helping them to integrate successfully into society. Positively, Slough has a high number of care leavers in higher education and attending university.

p.9

The experiences and progress of care leavers: inadequate

49. Weak housing planning leaves some young people living in accommodation that is unsuitable, unsafe, unhygienic and failing to meet basic standards. Many care leavers wait too long to secure housing. Practitioners also demonstrated variable understanding of housing processes, resulting in some care leavers missing years of being registered for social housing. Inspection of Slough local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026

p.9

families: inadequate

50. Currently, children’s services senior leaders, political and corporate leaders, and those who provide oversight and scrutiny of Slough, have a realistic understanding of the strengths and weaknesses within SCF. This follows a period during which the line of sight to practice was poor. While governance arrangements have been, and continue to be, strengthened, until this year there was a reliance on overly optimistic and incorrect information, which led to the scale of problems going undetected. Leaders were not sufficiently curious to uncover this swiftly. Leaders now agree that more robust governance is needed, with no single individual controlling the narrative presented to elected members, yet corporate oversight is still too weak. Inspectors heard how Slough wants children’s services back in council control, but Slough is not currently demonstrating that they have the internal governance and structures

p.10

families: inadequate

to operate more independently. At the same time, the improvement activity, in relation to children’s services and more widely across the council, has become cumbersome and is not being managed in a way that enables leaders to concentrate on the improvements needed to frontline practice. Slough experiences significant intervention from advisers and commissioners with activity competing for leaders’ attention. The last 12 years of intervention have been unsuccessful in achieving lasting change for the children and families of Slough. Multiple leaders have not been able to sustain improvements. There is currently a very new leadership team, whose members are providing a transparent appraisal of services. Streamlined and better coordinated challenge and support are needed to enable children’s leaders to make the changes children and families urgently require.

p.10

families: inadequate

51. The relationship between Slough council and SCF is improving, but it is still not an effective arrangement. There is no children’s scrutiny board in the council and elected members have not developed firm plans to implement this. While the political leaders currently broadly articulate the areas of practice that are poor and say that they have a commitment to children, there has been recent political change, and current arrangements are new and untested.

p.10

families: inadequate

52. Slough experiences significant, long-standing financial challenges across the council. While there has been investment in children’s services, it is reported that there is still a significant funding gap, and this falls far short of what is required to adequately resource services. The absence of additional investment and resources, alongside poor corporate decision-making, including previously freezing posts, has resulted in need outstripping capacity across help and protection, children in care and care leavers. Across services, the fundamental basics, including statutory duties, are not being carried out consistently. Slough is not currently in a position to deliver the Families First for Children reforms and has delayed restructuring services while trying to stabilise delivering their current core statutory responsibilities safely. Inspection of Slough local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026

p.10

families: inadequate

53. Staff and partners are largely positive about the new leadership team. The judiciary and Cafcass express faith in the direction of travel. However, professionals in schools speak in stark terms about a long-standing and systemic lack of faith in thresholds and children’s social care responses to abused and neglected children or families in crisis. The strength of partner agencies shores up some of the deficits in social care for some individual children.

p.11

families: inadequate

54. Slough’s approach to corporate parenting is insufficiently developed. Participation has started to gain a foothold, but true co-production and influence in shaping services are not present. Slough council is not acting as a committed corporate parent to children in care and care leavers, and there is a sense of distance and dissonance.

p.11

families: inadequate

55. Slough’s arrangements for training, performance oversight, quality assurance and developing a learning culture are being redesigned, but the impact on practice is still poor. Slough is at a stage where compliance with assurance processes is being embedded, and while managers’ compliance with auditing expectations is increasing, they have not implemented the next step of using themes and knowledge to improve practice. Similarly, the training offer and mandatory training expectations have been refreshed, but the capacity of workers to attend training limits effectiveness. Slough’s audit programme sits within the wider quality assurance framework; leaders are aware of the deficits, and arrangements to address these are underway and still developing. The current evolving arrangements follow a period of reduced oversight, during which time various boards were disbanded, multi-agency audits were undertaken less frequently and poor data integrity hindered the comprehensive

p.11

families: inadequate

56. Many practitioners and managers in Slough care about children and manage to steer or carry out individual pieces of effective work for some children. This is in the context of very high workloads across many teams. Leaders have recognised that the workloads are not manageable and are contributing to staff sickness and poor-quality services. Some very recent supervision has improved in terms of quality and frequency, but until the last three months it was not uncommon to see exceptionally long gaps and infrequent supervision for staff across all services. Where pockets of stronger supervision and oversight exist, the benefit is limited by capacity at every level, including workers’ ability to follow up on actions and managers and leaders being able to follow up on directions given. Many practitioners are inexperienced. Social workers in their assessed and supported year of employment (ASYE) do have protected

p.11

families: inadequate

caseloads but still spoke about the negative impact that having multiple managers has on their ability to fulfil the requirements of the ASYE programme. Practitioners are holding a level of complexity they are not ready for, and some workers expressed feeling overwhelmed. Workers at all levels are trying to alleviate gaps in managers’ support for their colleagues. Practitioners want to do a good job for children and are hungry for guidance. Notwithstanding the challenges, across services practitioners spoke positively about the new senior Inspection of Slough local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 leadership team. While views were cautiously optimistic, they express a sense that the leaders genuinely care about the workforce and are making efforts to be visible, transparent and to change the culture in Slough. Practitioners still have faith in leaders and are relying on them to help create the conditions

p.11

families: inadequate

where they can provide good support and protection for children. Inspection of Slough local authority children’s services 6 to 17 July 2026 regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked-after children, safeguarding and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format

p.12

families: inadequate

or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk . This report is available at https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/ . Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.13

families: inadequate

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.13