Harrow Council has set out an action plan of procedural and structural reforms in response to Ofsted’s inadequate judgement of its children’s services and a subsequent Department for Education improvement notice. But critics warn the council has failed to tackle the deeper cultural and ethos challenges at the heart of the services.
Commentators argue that Harrow’s path to genuine improvement will require more than compliance systems and new structures. Instead, they say the focus must shift towards creating a culture of care, compassion, and partnership – where children, families, and staff feel valued, respected, and supported.
Key points for meaningful and lasting improvement include:
Co-producing a shared values framework with children, families, care leavers, and staff, ensuring all policies and standards are guided by the test: “Would this be good enough for my child?”
Leaders modelling care and compassion, moving away from a culture of “management by audit” to one of learning and encouragement.
Establishing feedback panels and real-time tools to capture the experiences of children and families, using this input to drive cultural change, not just service adjustments.
Embedding relationship-based social work, prioritising trust, empathy, and continuity, supported by restorative training for staff.
Investing in staff wellbeing programmes, celebrating success stories, and shifting towards a strengths-based approach for both staff and families.
Reframing supervision and training to highlight values, ethics, empathy, and cultural humility alongside statutory knowledge.
Broadening performance measures to capture children’s lived experiences, trust in staff, and sense of belonging – not just statutory timelines.
Advocates argue that without embedding these cultural reforms, Harrow risks repeating the cycle of compliance-driven change without securing the trust and confidence of children, families, and frontline workers.
The ease with which such a deficient action plan excelled through the Harrow council cabinet process raises serious concerns about oversight and scrutiny.
Commentators argue that Harrow’s path to genuine improvement will require more than compliance systems and new structures. Instead, they say the focus must shift towards creating a culture of care, compassion, and partnership – where children, families, and staff feel valued, respected, and supported.
Key points for meaningful and lasting improvement include:
Co-producing a shared values framework with children, families, care leavers, and staff, ensuring all policies and standards are guided by the test: “Would this be good enough for my child?”
Leaders modelling care and compassion, moving away from a culture of “management by audit” to one of learning and encouragement.
Establishing feedback panels and real-time tools to capture the experiences of children and families, using this input to drive cultural change, not just service adjustments.
Embedding relationship-based social work, prioritising trust, empathy, and continuity, supported by restorative training for staff.
Investing in staff wellbeing programmes, celebrating success stories, and shifting towards a strengths-based approach for both staff and families.
Reframing supervision and training to highlight values, ethics, empathy, and cultural humility alongside statutory knowledge.
Broadening performance measures to capture children’s lived experiences, trust in staff, and sense of belonging – not just statutory timelines.
Advocates argue that without embedding these cultural reforms, Harrow risks repeating the cycle of compliance-driven change without securing the trust and confidence of children, families, and frontline workers.
The ease with which such a deficient action plan excelled through the Harrow council cabinet process raises serious concerns about oversight and scrutiny.
Harrow Monitoring Group 