As an introduction to my exciting new job as chief executive at Lambeth LBC, finding out a few days before I was due to start at the council in March 2015 that Ofsted had judged children’s social care as ‘inadequate’ was far from ideal. This was particularly tough for everyone at the authority as the previous inspection in 2012 had seen an ‘outstanding’ grade awarded across the board.

It was clear to me, and quickly confirmed by the political leadership, that leading the response to this set of circumstances had to be one of my top priorities. Therefore, after leading the council’s immediate analysis and response following the formal publication of the report, I put myself forward to chair the improvement board. This was agreed by the Department for Education (DfE) as part of formal intervention.