12 years of government intervention fail to deliver lasting improvement in Slough children’s services

Twelve years of government intervention have failed to deliver lasting improvement in children’s services in Slough, with Ofsted finding widespread and serious weaknesses that have left some children in unsafe situations for too long.

Slough’s children’s social care services have been judged inadequate across all four areas assessed following an inspection which began on 6 July. Inspectors rated the impact of leaders, services for children who need help and protection, the experiences of children in care and support for care leavers all as inadequate. Under Ofsted’s current framework, the authority does not receive a separate overall effectiveness judgement.

The findings are particularly significant because children’s social care in Slough has been subject to Department for Education intervention for more than a decade. The council was directed to establish an independent trust to deliver children’s services following longstanding concerns, with responsibility transferred to what is now Slough Children First in 2015. The service remains under statutory intervention, with the government issuing its eighth direction relating to children’s social care in February this year.

Despite years of external oversight, intervention and changes in leadership, Ofsted found that services have deteriorated since the previous full inspection in 2023. Inspectors said widespread and serious weaknesses in help and protection services meant children were being left in unsafe situations for too long and that some had suffered serious harm.

The report found that children did not consistently receive the basic standards of social work practice they should be able to expect. High turnover among social workers and weaknesses in arrangements for progressing care plans contributed to delays, with actions within some children’s plans drifting for months and, in some cases, years. The problems affected children requiring protection as well as those already in the care of the local authority.

Ofsted also raised concerns about the support provided to older children and care leavers. A focused visit in November 2025 had already resulted in an area for priority action relating to keeping in touch with care leavers, which was subsequently incorporated into the government’s latest statutory direction. The February 2026 intervention replaced commissioner arrangements with the appointment of a Children’s Services Improvement Adviser, but the latest inspection shows substantial weaknesses remain.

The latest judgement represents another setback in a lengthy improvement journey. Slough’s children’s services were rated requires improvement to be good at their 2023 inspection, while the impact of leaders was judged inadequate. The authority had also received requires improvement judgements in previous years after first being judged inadequate more than a decade ago.

There were areas of stronger practice identified by inspectors. Slough’s Virtual School, which supports the education of children in care and other children receiving social care support, was praised, while positive practice was also identified within adoption and fostering services. However, these strengths were not enough to outweigh the serious and widespread concerns found across the wider service.

Slough Borough Council and Slough Children First have accepted the findings. Council leader Councillor Wal Chahal said the problems were not new, acknowledging that services had been rated either inadequate or requiring improvement for 15 years and describing this as “a generation of children who have been let down”.

The council said new leadership is in place and work is underway to address the weaknesses, with a particular focus on ensuring improvements can be sustained. The authority itself is also subject to wider government intervention, adding to the challenge of delivering change against a backdrop of significant financial and organisational pressures.

The latest findings raise difficult questions about why more than a decade of statutory intervention, repeated improvement plans, external oversight and the creation of a separate company to run children’s services have failed to produce consistent and lasting change. For children and families in Slough, the issue is no longer simply whether another improvement plan can be produced, but whether the latest intervention can finally translate into safer and more reliable support in their everyday lives.

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