Over a two-week period in January 2026, Ofsted examined the experiences of children and young people receiving care, help and protection from the council, as well as efforts to improve these services.
As well as the overall judgement, inspectors highlighted the impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families, and the experiences and progress of care leavers, as Outstanding.
The report highlights strong leadership, exceptional social work practice and a culture where children’s voices shape decision making at every level.
Haringey Council Leader, Cllr Peray Ahmet, said:
This Outstanding judgement represents a major moment and tremendous achievement for Haringey. It demonstrates the borough’s progress and reaffirms the choices we have made to invest in services for children, young people and families.
I want to thank my Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families, Cllr Zena Brabazon, the Director of Children’s Services, Ann Graham, Children’s Services teams and partners, for their tireless work. This rating reflects their passion, professionalism and deep commitment to supporting families, children and young people in our borough.
We will now use this Outstanding judgement as a platform to work even harder to improve outcomes for our children and young people. We do it for them, and the work does not stop here.
Haringey Council Corporate Director of Children’s Services, Ann Graham, said:
We are delighted that the inspectors have recognised the compassion and expertise that underpins our work.
This result is the outcome of years of sustained improvement, dedication of our staff, and genuine partnership across our communities. Most importantly, it reflects the trust placed in us by children and families, and their valued contribution in shaping our services.
Inspectors highlighted several areas of excellence, including:
• Strong and skilled social workers who “benefit from training and guidance and feel supported and valued, enabling them to maintain a strong focus on children’s experiences.”
• Effective and comprehensive early help services, which “is helping to provide easy access and timely support to children and their families.”
• Exceptional care leaver support from “highly skilled, experienced and committed practitioners.”
• Robust safeguarding arrangements, including a “highly effective” multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH).
• Strong and strategic leadership which supports “consistently good or outstanding practice across all services” and political leaders who are “highly supportive and have prioritised children’s social care despite significant financial pressures.”
The outcome was praised by Yvette Stanley, National Director of Regulation and Social Care at Ofsted, who said it was “a significant achievement” and “testament to the hard work and tenacity of the leadership team past and present, managers and frontline staff, the wider council and [the council’s] safeguarding partners.”
The full inspection report is available on the Ofsted website.
