In 2022, Ofsted told Lambeth Council that our children’s services required improvement. We accepted that challenge and got to work.
As a Labour administration, we made a clear choice. Even whilst facing the toughest financial pressures on local government in decades, after 14 years of Conservative and Liberal Democrat cuts to council budgets, we prioritised the children who depend on us most.
That meant investing in our workforce, providing stable leadership, putting independent oversight in place to drive improvement, and focusing relentlessly on the outcomes for young people.
Today that work has been recognised. Ofsted has judged Lambeth’s children’s services to be Good overall, with Outstanding support for care leavers – a significant improvement from the previous inspection in 2022.
Inspectors recognised the sustained commitment from political and professional leaders that has helped drive improvements across the service.
Most importantly, this recognition belongs to Lambeth’s social workers, foster carers, personal advisers and staff who support children and families every day. Their professionalism, compassion and determination are making a real difference in young people’s lives.
For me this work is deeply personal. I grew up in a family that fostered hundreds of children over more than forty years. I have also spent much of my professional life working on policy affecting children and young people. So, I know how life-changing good children’s services can be.
This progress reflects the values that guide Labour in Lambeth – investing in strong public services, improving support for families, and making sure children and young people get the help they need.
That is why Lambeth was among the first councils to recognise care experience as a locally protected characteristic in council decision-making, helping ensure care-experienced young people are treated fairly across our services. It is why we are working with UNICEF to become an internationally recognised Child Friendly Borough – with accreditation expected in the next few months.
Lambeth Labour has continued investing in youth services, opening new facilities like the water play area on Clapham Common, providing free swimming for under-11s across the borough, investing £10m with schools to expand Special Educational Needs and Disability places, and putting children and young people at the heart of our borough’s development through dedicated Child Friendly Lambeth planning policies.
We also have fantastic partnerships supporting children and young people across the borough, including with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library who provide free books every month for 12,000 under-5s; the 12-week Barbershop Project mentoring programme for secondary school boys delivered by STEP NOW; and Young Elevators, who bring young people together with creative and cultural leaders from across businesses and the arts.
A re-elected Labour Council in 2026 will take our services further. We will expand our leisure centre offering so all under-16s can enjoy free gym and swimming sessions, we will invest £2.4m in adventure playgrounds and youth facilities this year alone, and we will build on our nationally recognised work to automatically enrol school pupils for Free School Meals – saving families hundreds of pounds annually and already bringing millions of pounds more into Lambeth schools.
Ofsted also challenged us to strengthen some aspects of how families first access support through our services. We are already acting on this, investing £750,000 to strengthen the way families access help so children and young people receive the right support earlier and decisions are made more consistent.
The best councils never stand still. Even outstanding authorities have areas they continue to strengthen. But this judgement shows what can be achieved when dedicated professionals, strong leadership and Labour values work together to improve the lives of children and young people.
Councillor Ben Kind, Cabinet Member for Children and Families