The neighbouring London boroughs signed a memorandum of understanding to discuss options for merging their children's services earlier this year and are now planning to transfer the running of their merged service to a social enterprise.
The full business case for the proposals will be considered by Richmond's cabinet in November, but the venture is expected to be called Achieving for Children.
Tailored services
Nick Whitfield, director of education, children's and cultural services at Richmond, told CYP Now that the social enterprise will allow the authorities to better tailor services to local needs and increase early intervention work.
"We will be able to provide children's services in new ways because of the freedom that being an independent entity brings," he said. "For example, as schools go to academy status, some might want to buy services that councils would have been unwilling to provide before."
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