Inspectors have provided Merton Council and its partners with a good rating following the Joint Area Review (JAR) of services for children and families in March. The JAR contributed to Merton Council’s corporate assessment where the borough has recently been awarded three stars (performing well).

The report confirmed that children and families receive good services in Merton, agencies are working effectively together and that the borough makes good use of resources available.

Inspectors recognised that outcomes for children are improving and that there is good capacity for further improvement due to the strong partnerships in place between agencies and the high quality of staff and managers across all the organisations inspected.

The JAR team examined the whole range of education, health, social care, youth and leisure services provided by the Council, local NHS services and services provided by the local community and voluntary sectors. A particular focus of the inspection was the extent to which local agencies are working jointly to improve outcomes for children and families.

Councillor Debbie Shears, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services said:

“The JAR report is very welcome confirmation that services for children and families in Merton are of good quality. We are also particularly pleased to see that inspectors are confident that we have the resources and staff across the partner organisations for services to get even better in the future.”

Dave Hill, Director of Children, Schools and Families said:

“JAR inspections are important and the partnership should be very pleased with the findings. Staff in particular should feel proud that their work has been positively rated. I know they share the partnership’s ambition to use the JAR as a platform to move our services from good to excellent before the next round of inspections.”