Hampshire County Council was one of the first children's services departments to gain Partners in Practice status. The "outstanding"-rated authority has gained a reputation for doing things differently - in recent years, it has rebuilt its children's homes, taken on the running of children's services for Isle of Wight Council, and developed its own strengths-based approach to social work.
Hampshire is one of the least deprived councils in the country, but its large geographical size means it has pockets of poverty. The department has 400 social workers and 1,000 staff split into eight districts with up to eight teams in each.
Increased funding and remodeling the early help offer has helped to meet rising costs, but director of children's services Steve Crocker says more needs to be done to reduce demand.
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