Ealing Liberal Democrats have asked the council’s children’s services scrutiny panel to examine urgently how the authority is responding to concerns raised by Ofsted. The request has opened a dispute over when councillors will test the improvement work: the panel chair says November’s agenda is already substantial and suggests March 2027 as a possible date for a comprehensive review, while the council says it is delivering an action plan agreed with the inspectorate.
The party’s children’s services spokesperson, Councillor Adam Keenan, wants the panel to consider the response at its next meeting on 24 November. He argues that scrutiny should happen as soon as possible because the findings concern the safety and support of children. His criticism that the council had delayed action is a political claim; it is not an Ofsted conclusion that no work took place. Earlier council statements described immediate steps and an improvement plan.
Panel chair Councillor Hodan Haili said the November meeting already had a substantial agenda, with items that would be difficult to reschedule. She said the March 2027 meeting may provide a more suitable opportunity for a comprehensive examination of the findings, the action being taken and whether recommendations and measurable improvements are needed. Her response did not say that a review had already been formally scheduled or set out an interim reporting date.
There is a small but relevant timetable uncertainty. The council’s committee page checked for this report lists a Children’s Services Scrutiny Panel meeting on 10 March 2027 and says its agenda will be published in the week before. The calendar page checked did not display a 24 November meeting. That does not establish that no November meeting is planned, but the date could not be corroborated in the official listing available at the time of publication.
The dispute follows a focused visit to Ealing’s children’s services on 24 and 25 June 2026. The findings, published on 31 July, raised concerns about management oversight and the consistency of safeguarding responses after cases moved beyond initial screening. Inspectors raised concerns over delays, unclear management recommendations and cases in which children’s risks were not assessed or addressed promptly. The regulator also noted strengths, including timely handling of many initial referrals and partnership working.
This was a focused visit, not a new full inspection. It did not produce a new overall rating: Ealing’s children’s services retained the “good” overall rating awarded following the 2024 inspection. The specific concerns in the focused-visit letter therefore sit alongside, rather than replace, that overall judgement.
In August, the council said it had submitted a draft action plan for review. Its position has since advanced: it now says it is delivering a plan agreed with Ofsted at a rapid pace. The council says it acted immediately on the issues raised and is building on strengths in partnership work and its workforce. It has not, in the statement reported this week, set out milestones, public progress measures or the detail of the agreed plan.
The immediate accountability question is whether councillors will be able to examine the plan before March, or whether a comprehensive review will wait until then. The chair says the findings deserve thorough scrutiny and that the process should lead to clear actions and tangible improvements for children and families. The council’s progress and any recommendations from the panel remain to be assessed; no new inspection outcome has been announced.
