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Chief Officers' Employment Panel - Thursday 12 June 2025 5.30 pm
June 12, 2025 View on council websiteSummary
At a meeting of the Chief Officers' Employment Panel, Harrow Council agreed to create new senior management posts in the Children's Services department with remuneration packages over £100,000, and also agreed to appoint a new Strategic Director of Housing and Regeneration. Councillor Paul Osborn, Leader of the Council, chaired the meeting.
Children's Services Restructure
The panel approved the remuneration packages for two new posts arising from the restructuring of Children's Services1 : a Director of Safeguarding (D2 grade, £121,232 - £136,272) and an Assistant Director for Practice Improvement and Quality Assurance (D1 grade, £97,275 - £114,261). The report of Parmjit Chahal, Director of Children Services, noted that the new structure would cost an additional £80,000, which would be funded from within the overall budget through efficiencies identified elsewhere in the directorate.
The restructuring was prompted by an Ofsted inspection in January 2025 that rated Harrow's children's services as 'Inadequate' overall, despite rating some aspects as 'Good'. The report found that:
children and families can access a good range of early support, getting the right help at the right time. Social workers build good relationships with their children and young people and work hard to find out what is important for each child.
However, the report also highlighted the impact of leaders on social worker practice as requiring improvement
and rated the experiences and progress of care leavers as inadequate
.
The new Director of Safeguarding will be responsible for leading and managing statutory services for children and families, including those in need of protection, children looked after2, and young people involved in the criminal justice system. The Assistant Director for Practice Improvement and Quality Assurance will be responsible for inspection preparation for Youth Justice Service and Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), and for delivering the quality assurance framework across Children's Social Care, Education and Youth Justice Service.
As part of the changes, the panel noted that the vacant roles of Assistant Director Early Help and Front Door (D1) and the Assistant Director Children In Need (D1) would be deleted. The MG4 Head of Service posts for Early Help, Corporate Parenting, Front Door, and Children in Need will be regraded to MG5 Head of Service posts.
Appointment of Strategic Director of Housing and Regeneration
The panel resolved to exclude the press and public to discuss the appointment of the Strategic Director of Housing and Regeneration, citing paragraph 1 (information relating to individuals) and paragraph 3 (information relating to financial and business affairs) of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 19723. Following interviews, the panel agreed to make an appointment to the post.
Appointment of Vice-Chair
The panel considered the appointment of a Vice-Chair for the Municipal Year 2025/26. The outcome of this consideration was not recorded in the minutes.
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Children's Services are the local authority departments responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. ↩
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'Looked after' children are those who are in the care of the local authority for more than 24 hours. ↩
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The Local Government Act 1972 is a UK law that defines the structure and functions of local authorities in England and Wales. Schedule 12A outlines the categories of information that can be kept confidential in council meetings. ↩
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