Sunderland City Council: Local Spotlight

Known for its industrial heritage of shipbuilding and coalmining, Sunderland today is a regional centre for electric car manufacturing, aerospace industries and the customer service sector. Yet the effects of the post-industrial decline of the 1980s is still seen in poor social outcomes that have blighted other parts of the North East in recent generations. Sunderland tracks above the national and regional averages for unemployment rates and the proportion of adults in employment deprivation as measured through the government’s Indices of Deprivation. As a result, nearly a quarter of children in the city grow up in low-income homes and one in five primary and secondary age children are eligible for free school meals.

Health and wellbeing

Around 20 per cent of Sunderland’s 278,000 citizens are aged under 18, of which the vast majority identify as white British (see graphics). In terms of children’s health and wellbeing outcomes, Sunderland tracks above the regional and national averages for teenage pregnancies, childhood obesity and hospital admissions for alcohol misuse. Educationally, Sunderland’s average attainment 8 score was slightly below the regional and England average in 2019/20.

Data from the Social Mobility Commission (SMC) shows a complex picture of children and young people’s life chances and opportunities. The SMC ranked all 324 English council areas for social mobility, with Sunderland scoring a respectable 86th place. The area performed well for its early years services achieving a ranking of 12th and for school-age provision with a ranking of 54th. Good outcomes for disadvantaged young children, excellent Ofsted ratings for preschools and high levels of uptake of the funded childcare offer for two-year-olds were key factors in the SMC’s high ranking for early years. It also praised the role of Sunderland City Council for its focus on supporting disadvantaged children and families. Most Sunderland primary schools achieved good Ofsted ratings, although the picture is more mixed at secondary level. The SMC says that the attainment gap in GCSEs between all pupils and those on free school meals is higher in Sunderland than the England average.

This deteriorating achievement picture for disadvantaged children as they grow up is reflected in the 234th youth rank the SMC gives Sunderland. It scores low for the number of 15-year-olds on free school meals going to university, achieving two or more A-levels and avoiding becoming Neet (not in education, employment or training).

Faced with these social challenges, children’s services had struggled for much of the last decade. It was rated “inadequate” overall by Ofsted in 2015 and again in 2018, just after community interest company Together for Children took over running the department. Despite criticism by inspectors of the transfer process, Ofsted praised the new management’s recruitment and retention strategy for stabilising the workforce. What has happened since has transformed the department – use of agency staff has dropped to near zero and unfilled posts are around the England average – meanwhile outcomes for children have improved thanks to a focus on early help and putting young people’s voice at the heart of decision-making, culminating in Ofsted awarding an “outstanding” rating in August.

Jill Colbert, chief executive of Together for Children and Sunderland director of children’s services (DCS), says the recruitment of “experienced and talented managers” who could “really grip practice” had been key to the transformation. Despite the success, she says challenges remain, particularly in reducing the number of families in the child protection system (see DCS view).

DCS VIEW
‘RECRUITMENT OF PERMANENT MANAGERS AND SOCIAL WORKERS KEY TO TURNAROUND’

By Jill Colbert, chief executive of Together for Children and Sunderland DCS

When we received the 2018 “inadequate” rating, the service was heavily reliant on agency staff and they don’t have the same level of investment and commitment that permanent staff do, so one of the biggest challenges was creating a workforce that was invested in the future.

To do that we essentially over-recruited newly qualified social workers and have grown a lot of our own talent. Many of those social workers are some of the most tenacious and talented that I’ve met in my career. They come from all different spheres of social care, some are mature students, some are undergraduates, so there’s a nice blend of experience.

We also needed a management team that could oversee and grip practice so recruiting very experienced and talented managers has been a key part of that success.

Martin Birch, the director of social care, had a very flat management structure, there weren’t enough managers. With the support of the council – in terms of the level of investment required – we were able to increase the management oversight and those managers, over the last two years, have driven a phenomenal level of change and improvement.

They implemented a new practice model, Signs of Safety, which has been an important part of our cultural change process.

It’s taken us from being a service that intervenes when statutorily necessary to being one that wants to work with families to find solutions and strength.

What Ofsted also saw in all children’s case recordings was that children direct the interventions.

Particularly important in that is trying to strategically sweep up the voice of children through engagement and participation processes – the children who drive those are care-experienced. They speak very authentically on behalf of other children. One day we’ll be led by them, I’ve no doubt.

They are the three ingredients of our success: a social work practice model that has a clear structure for workers; a sustained and invested workforce; and a leadership that knows where it needs to be, what it needs to do and has the headspace to be responsive and flexible.

The outcome of this inspection marks a turning point for children’s services and for families in Sunderland. We’re a proud city and proud of what we’ve achieved and are very ambitious for the future.

We will be subject to continued monitoring and we want to retain an “outstanding” judgment but everybody knows to stay at that level is almost as challenging as getting there. We’ve achieved a level of performance now that is unprecedented.

We’ve got to continue to work with families to reduce the volume of families in the statutory system, we’d like to reduce the number of children who experience domestic violence and abuse and we want to get children into, through and out of school with really positive and optimistic career pathways and learning opportunities for the future. There is still plenty of work for us to do but we can do that from a solid foundation.