The post of director of children’s services is arguably the most highly-scrutinised in local government and is invariably among the most challenging to recruit to, says Tim Hills and Philip Emms

In May, the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) released its annual DCS Update, in which it gathers together information about changes in post holders of the statutory director of children’s services (DCS) role across the sector. Featuring data from April 2017 to March 2018, the report makes for interesting reading and provokes a number of observations about what is a highly specialised and fluctuating recruitment market.