Bromley council are ‘extremely proud’ after Ofsted rated their children’s services, which were ‘inadequate’ two years ago, ‘good’ with ‘outstanding’ leadership.

Ofsted reported that services had improved dramatically over the past two years thanks to the vision, commitment and determination of senior leaders.

The report said ‘a new and highly experienced senior leadership team has driven a rapid and sustained pace of improvement, supported by a whole council investment in children’s services.

‘This has led to vastly improved services for children and families.’

Ofsted described Bromley as a highly committed ‘corporate parent’ of children looked after and described the improvements as ‘palpable’.

Children in care told inspectors that they feel ‘they are known’ and that there is a ‘huge’ difference now in how much they feel valued.

Ofsted found that direct work with children has become a significant strength in Bromley and the children’s voices and experiences ‘sing out’ in their assessments and plans.

‘I am extremely proud of this absolutely remarkable achievement. This improvement in such a short space of time has simply never been achieved by any other local authority,’ said Bromley Council’s executive member for children and families Cllr Peter Fortune.

‘To go from where Bromley children’s services were two years ago when Ofsted judged them inadequate to a position of strength with ‘outstanding’ leadership, and a ‘good’ overall rating across all services is unheard of in this time frame.

‘I commend the new leadership of our children’s services under Interim Chief Executive Ade Adetosoye OBE, as well as councillors, staff and our partners who have shown such unflinching dedication to the young people of our borough over this period.

‘I should also like to thank the Leader of the Council, Councillor Colin Smith and former Leader, Stephen Carr for their personal support and commitment.’