The “biggest challenge” for children’s services in Bexley is avoiding complacency following a dramatic turnaround last year.

Bexley’s children’s services went from inadequate to outstanding at the first try when inspectors visited the council in 2018.

The Ofsted visit took place over two weeks during July, with the watchdog observing practice, with families, carers, children and young people, as well as partners and professionals.

A year later, this week saw cabinet member Philip Read tell a scrutiny panel: “Being described as outstanding is of course great but it is just a snapshot in time.

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“The biggest challenge is sustaining it and avoiding complacency. The papers reflect the determination running through the service to avoid the trap of complacency. Nobody is ever perfect.”

Overall the service in Bexley was described as being “underpinned by many skilled practitioners who know the families and young people well, and make effective relationships with them which are helping their lives to be better”.

The turnaround has led to Bexley staff now spending time showing other authorities the ropes, sparking concern this week that the borough’s focus could slip.

The council has been handed over £250k by the government over several years to create extra capacity whilst it is helping other boroughs.

Councillor Christine Catterall said at a scrutiny meeting on July 3: “Our staff are going out and doing workshops, I hope we are looking at whether there has been any negative impacts on our own services.”

Cllr Read said after the meeting: “There’s a concern to make sure it doesn’t’ impact our performance but it’s good reputationally and for our staff to act up to cover vacancies.

“Our concern, is not to stop this because it helps children’s services generally, but to make sure it doesn’t impact negatively on our own performance. We need to review and look back to assess the impacts on our own performance.”

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Research earlier this year by the Children’s Commissioner’s office estimates 2.3 million children – one in five children in England – are growing up with a vulnerable family background.

This includes 830,000 children who are “invisible” to services, according to the report.

Vulnerable backgrounds include kids with parents with mental illnesses, addiction problems or domestic violence issues.