Achieving for Children (AfC) is a social enterprise company created in 2014 by the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...

to provide

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...

for children. It is thought to have been the first company of its kind.

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

rates Achieving for Children as "outstanding" for children's services in the Kingston borough, following an inspection in October 2019. When the company was launched in 2014, it was described as the "future model of Children's Services". It enabled the two councils to save money by sharing services whilst avoiding some of the "organisational difficulties", and allowing them to work in ways that would not be possible as a local authority. Some critics were concerned that AfC represented a privatisation of children' social services as well as a reduction in accountability and scrutiny, and there was scepticism over whether service levels could be maintained and improved in the wake of significant spending cuts. The organisation was subsequently credited with improving Kingston's children's services from an "Inadequate" to "good" Ofsted rating. A 2016 independent Government review of the establishment of AfC concluded that the transformation had demonstrated positive results for service quality and financial return, with a number of benefits realised as well as lessons learned. On 1 August 2017, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead became a co-owner of AfC, which now delivers children’s services across all three boroughs. In December 2019, Kingston and Richmond Councils both agreed to recommission Achieving for Children to deliver their children’s services until 31 March 2026.

Similar organisations

Similar organisations to AfC have been created in Doncaster and

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...

, though these were established as part of Government interventions rather than voluntarily. The Government's review of the establishment of AfC also referred to "alternative delivery models being considered or developed in other local authorities such as ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and Birmingham, and voluntarily in areas such as Lincolnshire."

References

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External links

Corporate homepage

Services provided by Achieving for Children
Social enterprises London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Companies based in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames