Social workers
Working at pace to deliver social care in a crisis
Durham CC’s focus during the COVID-19 outbreak is on supporting commissioned adult and health services to continue to deliver sustainable high quality care, says Neil Jarvis.
Our Ofsted journey to outstanding
Cllr Shaun Davies explains how Telford & Wrekin Council’s Ofsted rating for children’s services leaped from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘outstanding’ due to an innovative approach to investment and a focus on workforce and good practice.
Keeping children and families safe
Lou Williams outlines why she believes the introduction of the Family Safeguarding model in Cambridgeshire will ‘make a real difference to the lives of our most vulnerable children’.
Keeping youngsters away from the edge
The Edge of Care programme is breaking the cycle of children and young people becoming looked-after. Anne Stoker describes the key aspects of the approach.
Ofsted highlights 'serious and widespread failures' at council
Children in Middlesbrough are being left at risk for too long because of failures in practice and leadership, Ofsted has warned.
‘There can be and will be no complacency’
Joanne Roney says that while addressing past failures is ‘very necessary’, we must not lose sight of ‘how radically our approach to tackling child sexual exploitation has been strengthened’ since Operation Augusta.
An efficient collaboration
Victoria Gould of Warwickshire CC’s award-winning Young People Legal Service team (YPLS) explains how it is working collaboratively with other local authorities to minimise legal costs in times of increasing demand.
Roney warns against complacency after damning review
Manchester City Council’s chief executive has insisted the authority will not be complacent about child sexual exploitation after a damning review was published.
Local government are the systems thinkers and the time to act is now
Systems thinking - considering the whole, not just the parts, and how those parts interact - brings new rigour to identifying possible actions and their consequences for children's social care, says Tim Hobbs.
Unlock potential of social workers through self-management, report argues
A new report has called for a radical reduction in middle management to boost the time social workers spend with families.
Reflecting on the Children Acts of 1989 and 2004
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) president, vice president and past presidents reflect on the successes of the Children Acts of 1989 and 2004, and what has changed since they became law.
‘We need to myth-bust here’
As the sector heads to Bournemouth for the National Children and Adult Services (NCAS) conference this week, Ann McGauran talks to Rachel Dickinson about how the country’s young are faring 30 years after the seminal 1989 Children Act.
Turning agency fees into more spending for children
Cllr James Valentine explains how Bedford BC has been able to attract the permanent employees needed to support children and save £1.5m on agency workers in the first 12 months.
Shaping a 21st century Jersey
Charlie Parker arrived in the top job at the States of Jersey determined to bring in a programme of change. Heather Jameson talks to him about the scale of the task he faced and what he’s achieving.
Reaping the benefits of a whole-service approach
Leigh Zywek describes how a programme of long-term support for a young mother is making a vital difference.
Long-term Norwich chief to step down
Norwich City Council’s chief executive for 14 years, Laura McGillivray, will step down from her role later this year, it has been announced.
Support from care sector sought for campaign
An appeal has been made to the social care sector to back a Government recruitment campaign.
Promising findings from social work pilots
Devolving budgets to frontline workers to directly support families could reduce the likelihood of children going into care, pilots have found.
Report: 580,000 more social workers needed by 2035
More than 500,000 social care jobs in England will need to be filled by 2035, a new report has predicted.
Children's services progress 'slow and uneven'
Ofsted has described the progress of Reading BC to improve its children’s services as ‘slow, uneven and not always sustained’.
