Interview: Peter O’Hara, health and social care technology entrepreneur

• Children's Services | Service configuration | Management

Derren Hayes speaks to the health and social care technology...

Recruiting social workers from overseas

• Management | Social Care | Service configuration

Amid ongoing shortages of social workers, children's...

Evaluating Impact Special Report

• Management | Service configuration

Amid debates over whether data should be prioritised over...

Leadership: Developing new services

• Management | Service configuration | Leadership

In a time of stretched resources it has never been more...

Remote working in children’s services

• Service configuration | Management | Coronavirus

Many children’s professionals have been working remotely...

Sustainable Services: Special Report

• Children's Services | Management | Service configuration | Education | Social Care | Youth Work

‘Eco anxiety’ among young people is rising prompting many to...

Birmingham Children’s Trust: Three years in

• Children's Services | Management | Service configuration

Following a decade of poor performance, England’s largest...

Stoke-on-Trent City Council: Local Spotlight

• Children's Services | Management | Service configuration | Ofsted | Families/Parenting

West Midlands area famous for its pottery industry is trying...

Bradford City Council: Local Spotlight

• Children's Services | Management | Service configuration | Leadership

West Yorkshire council is making steady improvement after...

East Riding of Yorkshire Council – Local Spotlight

• Children's Services | Management | Leadership | Service configuration

Derren Hayes assesses the impact an ‘inadequate’ inspection...

Youth Work: Special Report

• Youth Work | Youth services | Participation | Management | Service configuration

A decade of deep funding cuts has seen a huge reduction in...

Joint targeted area inspections: Inspections clinic

• Children's Services | Information sharing | Management | Leadership | Service configuration | Ofsted | Social Care | Safeguarding and child protection | Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation | Attachment & Neglect

Joint targeted area inspections began in 2016 with the aim...

Unregistered children’s homes: Legal Update

• Management | Service configuration | Safeguarding and child protection | Residential and specialist care | Legal

As the number of children being taken into care continues to...

Commissioning: Foster care relative costs

• Fostering and adoption | Commissioning | Service configuration | Foster Care

Children’s services commissioners need to take into account...

Shared Services: Special Report

• Children's Services | Early help | Information sharing | Management | Commissioning | Leadership | Service configuration | Social Care | Residential and specialist care | Fostering and adoption | Safeguarding and child protection

Fresh evidence suggests collaboration is helping local...

Special Report: Technology in Children's Services

• Information sharing | Service configuration | Safeguarding and child protection

Children's services are increasingly using technology to...

Rethinking children's services

• Children's Services | Commissioning | Service configuration

Local authorities are starting to test new ways to meet...

Commissioning: New Year resolutions

• Commissioning | Leadership | Service configuration

Richard Selwyn considers six resolutions to improve how...

Leadership: Scaling up interventions

• Early help | Leadership | Service configuration | Preventing Care Proceedings

Once the value of an innovative intervention for children...

Communicating children's services

• Children's Services | Management | Service configuration

Communicating the day-to-day work of children's services can...

Commissioning: Systems thinking

• Children's Services | Leadership | Service configuration

Finding the right solution for complex children's services...

Local Spotlight: Birmingham City Council

• Management | Service configuration | Fostering and adoption | Foster Care

How England's largest authority is using online and...

Leadership: Realising capacity in social care

• Leadership | Service configuration | Social Care

In straitened times we need to look beyond the entrenched...

The co-producers: Making users part of the solution

• Service configuration | Participation

Involvement of children and families in shaping services can...

Key steps that will improve play services for disabled children

• Health | Disabled children and young people | Children's Services | Children's rights | Early help | Families/Parenting | Information sharing | Management | Leadership | Service configuration | Social Care | Play

A charity has devised a blueprint for improved access to...

Future in mind: the story so far

• Health | Management | Service configuration | Mental Health

The Future in Mind strategy promises wide-ranging...

Raising ambitions for care leavers

• Education | Children's Services | Management | Service configuration | Social Care | Careers Guidance | Leaving Care

Care leavers are more likely to struggle to access...

States of play: how the UK nations approach children's play

• Children's Services | Management | Service configuration | Play

National Playday highlights the importance of play in...

Future of foster care: innovation in recruitment and retention

• Children's Services | Families/Parenting | Management | Service configuration | Social Care | Fostering and adoption | Foster Care

Three out of four children in care are fostered, but the...

Front of Mind

• Health | Early help | Service configuration | Mental Health

Increased political profile and a new care framework offer a...

Local Spotlight: Lambeth Council

• Children's Services | Child poverty | Management | Leadership | Service configuration | Preventing Care Proceedings

Corporate commitment to boosting children and young people’s...

Local spotlight: Haringey Council

• Children's Services | Management | Leadership | Service configuration

Borough with a foot in both inner and outer London has...

Local Spotlight: Bury Metropolitan Borough Council

• Children's Services | Management | Service configuration

North West borough has plans to transform children's social...

The future of assessing impact

• Management | Service configuration

Develop balanced evaluation to ensure resources are used...

North East Lincolnshire Council: Local Spotlight

• Management | Service configuration

New leadership team has changed the culture and delivered...

Southampton City Council: Local Spotlight

• Management | Leadership | Service configuration

South coast council has charged new DCS with implementing...

Peterborough City Council: Local Spotlight

• Children's Services | Management | Leadership | Service configuration | Ofsted

Children’s services in prosperous commuter city are rated...

Hertfordshire County Council – Local Spotlight

• Children's Services | Management | Leadership | Service configuration | Special Educational Needs & Disabilities

Council with reputation for innovation turns its attention...

System links council’s education and social care data

• Education | Social Care | Children's Services | Information sharing | Management | Service configuration | Special Educational Needs & Disabilities

Visibility of children’s wider needs helps care and...

Warwickshire County Council: Local Spotlight

• Children's Services | Information sharing | Early help | Management | Leadership | Service configuration

Midlands authority has invested in the children’s workforce...

Chance UK’s use of rapid cycle design and testing

• Service configuration | Extra-curricular

Children’s charity Chance UK is using a pioneering...

Worcestershire County Council

• Leadership | Service configuration | Children's Services | Social Care | Education | Health

Long-time struggling West Midlands council is the latest to...

Local Spotlight: Sandwell Metropolitan Borough

• Service configuration

West Midlands borough has high levels of poverty and a...

Local Spotlight: Liverpool City Council

• Service configuration

The North West local authority is taking an "invest-to-save"...

Local Spotlight: Bournemouth Council

• Service configuration

South coast town has a stable workforce and falling care...

Local Spotlight: Milton Keynes Council

• Service configuration

The Buckinghamshire "new town" has invested in a variety of...

Electronic child record, Essex

• Education | Information sharing | Service configuration

Essex Council has introduced a system to store children and...

Local Spotlight: Doncaster

• Management | Service configuration

Transferring delivery of children's social care to an...

Local Spotlight: Staffordshire County Council

• Leadership | Service configuration

West Midlands council is developing new ways of working,...

Local Spotlight: South Tyneside Council

• Service configuration

South Tyneside has a higher than average unemployment rate,...

Lessons from Serious Case Reviews: Health professionals

• Health | Service configuration | Safeguarding and child protection

The NSPCC has analysed evidence from serious case reviews to...

Ask the Experts: Families benefit from genograms

• Nurseries | Families/Parenting | Service configuration

Our expert panel offers advice on genograms in social work,...

Ask the Experts: Consult on early years services

• Nurseries | Leadership | Service configuration | Safeguarding and child protection | Youth services

Our expert panel offers advice on early years consultations,...

Youth Work and Youth Services: Practice example - Young Lambeth Co-operative

• Service configuration | Youth Work | Youth services

Ask the Experts: Making a move to management

• Careers | Early Years | Early years education | Nurseries | Management | Leadership | Service configuration | Youth Work

Our expert panel offers advice on staff supervision, team...

Woodland Nursery

• Early Years | Early years education | Nurseries | Education | Management | Leadership | Service configuration | Outdoor Learning

London-based nursery inspired by the Forest School approach,...

Behind the Inspection Rating: Pre-school hones independence

• Early Years | Early years education | Management | Leadership | Service configuration | Ofsted

Clyst Valley Pre-School, Devon - Pre-school inspection -...

Good Idea: College prepares young people for armed forces

• Education | Children's Services | Management | Leadership | Service configuration

A specialist training college aimed at helping young people...

Ask the Experts: Accessing mental health funding

• Early Years | Health | Mental health | Sexual health | Children's Services | Children's rights | Early help | Information sharing | Management | Leadership | Service configuration | Youth Work

Our panel offers advice on mental health services funding,...

Ask the Experts: Address suspicions over legal highs

• Early Years | Nurseries | Health | Drugs and alcohol | Children's Services | Information sharing | Management | Commissioning | Leadership | Service configuration | Social Care | Safeguarding and child protection | Youth Work | Participation | Youth clubs

Our panel offers advice on the dangers of legal highs, child...

Behind the Inspection Rating: Structure change drives progress

• Health | Mental health | Children's Services | Early help | Families/Parenting | Information sharing | Management | Service configuration | Ofsted | Social Care

Kingston upon Thames Council - children's services...

Behind the Inspection Rating: Centre offers five-star provision

• Early Years | Management | Service configuration | Ofsted | Inspections

Harpenden children's centres monitor children's progress to...

Leadership: Creative changes will end the status quo of inefficient children's services

• Management | Leadership | Service configuration

Back in 2005, we underwent a restructure in Stockport like...

Shared Services Briefing

• Children's Services | Information sharing | Management | Leadership | Service configuration

This briefing highlights many of the issues facing councils,...

Does Austerity Drive Public Service Innovation? Evidence From Shared Senior Management Teams in Local Government

• Children's Services | Information sharing | Service configuration | Leadership

The paper presents the results of an in-depth analysis of...

Evaluation of Regional Adoption Agencies 2018-19

• Service configuration | Commissioning | Social Care | Fostering and adoption

This report presents findings from the first stage of the...

Fostering Effective Early Learning

• Early years education | Service configuration

This exciting trial has demonstrated the substantial impact...

Measure Once, Cut Twice: Using Data for Continuous Improvement and Impact Evaluation in Education Programs

• Service configuration

This research paper describes a “quality to outcomes” (Q-O)...

Trends in Children's and Young People's Services Expenditure in England

• Children's Services | Service configuration

Researchers from the University of Sheffield and the...

Supporting Long-term Foster Care Placements in the Independent Sector

• Service configuration | Social Care | Fostering and adoption | Foster Care

The impact of Match Foster Care's pilot project to improve...

A serene setting to address harmful sexual behaviour

• Children's Services | Management | Service configuration | Social Care | Residential and specialist care | Residential Children's Care

Glebe House is a residential home providing therapeutic care...

Survey of Schools' Work with Child and Adolescent Mental Health

• Education | Extra-curricular | Health | Children's Services | Information sharing | Management | Service configuration | Mental Health

A research team led by University College London and the...

Youth Mental Health: New Economic Evidence

• Health | Children's Services | Children's rights | Early help | Information sharing | Leadership | Service configuration | Mental Health

Study of the economic impact of youth mental health services...