Ofsted praise for Tower Hamlets’ safeguarding service

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ safeguarding children service has been praised by Ofsted following an unannounced inspection.

Inspectors, who visited last month, were particularly impressed with training for social workers to help them better support families who frequently move and those who are “uncooperative”.

Managers’ commitment to improving the service and the council’s work to strengthen links across health, social care and education departments were other areas that impressed inspectors.

Inspectors found no areas requiring priority action, but did highlight a number of areas for development. They found that some referral documents lacked clarity and duplicated information. Delays in formally closing cases was another area of concern.

Abdul Asad, Tower Hamlets’ lead member for children, schools and families, said: “We are not complacent and have already begun improvement programmes to address the development areas highlighted in the Ofsted inspection report.”