We have welcomed the publication of an Ofsted letter after inspectors visited its Children’s Services.
During the focused visit, which took place in November 2025, inspectors looked at Medway’s arrangements for children in care. The visit followed on from Ofsted’s full inspection of Medway Council’s Children’s Services in July 2023, which saw the services graded ‘good’ overall.
The latest visit focused on the quality of matching, placement and decision making, as well as the arrangements for children in care who are at risk from exploitation, the response to children missing from care, and the experiences and progress of children living in unregistered provision.
Key findings from Ofsted’s letter, published on 12 January 2026, include:
- Corporate, political, and senior leadership are aligned, visible and focused on continually improving services for children in care.
- Visits are child-centred, and records are written in warm, age-appropriate language which clearly reflect the child’s voice.
- Children come into care at the right time, when it is necessary and in their best interests, with effective management oversight of these decisions.
- Children benefit from trusting relationships with their social workers who know them well.
- Oversight from Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) is a particular strength due to the high quality, and often personalised nature, of the support and direction they provide. Children speak about how they really value these visits and the long-lasting relationships they have with their IROs.
- Significant investment in increasing the number of children’s homes operated by the council, alongside a wider approach of increasing the sufficiency of children’s homes available is making a positive difference in Medway.
- A clear and sustained commitment to avoid the use of unregistered placements. When unregistered placements are used, social workers visit children at least weekly, and this is alongside robust management oversight and comprehensive quality assurance processes.
- Children are supported to understand the risks associated with going missing from care, and additional resources have been put in place to ensure that return home interviews are offered to all children, including those who live outside the local area.
- A strong learning culture is in place, and ongoing efforts to strengthen the permanent workforce continue to have a positive impact, contributing to greater consistency and improved practice.
The letter also acknowledges areas for improvement. This includes improving the consistency with which the needs of children placed outside of Medway are met. Although investment has been made to reduce the likelihood of having to place children away from Medway, there are a small minority of children living outside of Medway who do not get all their needs well met due to a lack of access to some services – including specialist health care.
The letter also states there needs to be an increased consistency with which the tools to assess the risk to children from going missing or being exploited are used. When used, the tools help support socials workers to identify actual and potential harm, and lead to clear and purposeful intervention. However, inspectors noted that for a significant minority, they are not being used which limits social worker understanding of risk and ability to intervene as effectively.
However, the letter also states that senior leaders have a clear line of sight to practice and strong understanding of the strengths, as well as areas for improvement, thanks to the quality assurance processes in place.
Continuing to make good progress
Cllr Adam Price, Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services, said: “We welcome this latest feedback from Ofsted, which confirms we are continuing to make good progress on our improvement journey in Children’s Services. Children matter in Medway, and I would like to sincerely thank our staff, partners, and leadership team for their continued hard work. It is also great to see that Medway’s social workers feel supported within their teams, and throughout their professional development.
“Despite making positive progress we know there is always more to do to ensure we reach our shared ambition of ensuring every child in Medway has the best start to life possible. It is always fantastic to hear about what we are doing well, but importantly, visits like this give us the opportunity to focus on the areas we need to improve. Children remain at the heart of our decisions here in Medway, and we are committed to continued improvement to see the best outcomes for our children and young people.”