Ealing Lib Dems ask difficult questions of Ealing Labour about children's failed safeguarding as raised by Ofsted

Ofsted reported Ealing Council urgently to the Department for Education (DfE).

Councillors Adam Keenan, Children’s Services (Ealing Broadway Ward) and Jonathan Oxley, Finance (Hanger Hill Ward), have been asking questions of the Chief Executive, Tony Clements and the Strategic Director, Robert South, Strategic Director Children’s Services, regarding children’s safeguarding at Ealing Council. This follows a letter published by Ofsted on 31 July 2026 criticising the “poor front door” services at Ealing Council regarding risk identification and follow-on action in relation to “at risk” children.

Ofsted have urgently referred Ealing Council to the Department for Education (DfE) over inconsistent safeguarding of children, especially those at risk of domestic or sexual abuse and those liable to physical harm or neglect, many of which occur in the home environment. Ofsted criticised the lack of consistent risk and safety plans, absence of mitigations and delays when a speedy resolution was required.

This means that Ealing Council must lay out an early action plan within twenty days of receiving Ofsted's letter, by mid to late August, to address these worrying shortcomings.

Ofsted found that teams which dealt with safeguarding after the immediate “front door” service put children at unnecessary risk because of a lack of “timely and effective response”.

It highlighted that URGENT ACTION was needed to ensure that children at risk were supported in a consistent and joined-up manner across a number of teams.

It also pointed to a lack of “quality, consistency and impact of management oversight and supervision” by leaders. This shows that Ealing Labour is consistently failing “at risk” children. A situation made worse by closing ten children’s centres across the borough, further reducing access points to services.

Ofsted also particularly noted that there was a lack of consistent focus on the children themselves, resulting in distraction by some parents.

Ofsted particularly singled out the limited awareness of Ealing Labour Leadership, despite them holding the reins of power for over 16 years, since 2010.

They also cited inadequate and inappropriate audit and quality assurance of their own practices – which shows how complacent Ealing Labour have been whilst in office.

Lib Dem Councillor Adam Keenan, Shadow spokesperson for Children’s Services, said: “Liberal Democrats say that despite being warned over two years ago that management oversight at Labour-run Ealing Council Children's Services 'required improvement', Ealing Labour has not taken meaningful action to address this. This failure in leadership has allowed vulnerable children to slip through the cracks, putting them at risk of harm. Liberal Democrats believe urgent action is needed to address this appalling failure to keep young people in our borough safe. Ealing residents will be shocked by the findings in this report.”

Lib Dem Councillor Jonathan Oxley, Shadow spokesperson for Finance, said: “Liberal Democrats believe that it is appalling to see that the essential minimum services for safeguarding are not being applied consistently across the board and that children may be falling through the safety net. I am shocked by the lack of transparency and leadership being displayed by Ealing Labour. The safeguarding issue at a local level comes on top of a failure by both Labour and Tory governments to address the crisis occurring for young people in Ealing and across the country.”