Children’s services in Worcestershire has been struggling for much of the decade – its safeguarding and looked-after children services were judged “inadequate” in 2010, and although this improved to “requires improvement” in 2012, another visit by Ofsted in late 2016 saw the department rated inadequate again.
There was little sign of improvement over the following 18 months, leading to the Department for Education ordering in 2018 Worcestershire County Council to establish a “wholly owned” company to run children’s social care services.
The new organisation – Worcestershire Children First – launched in shadow form in April before going live in October.
The alternative delivery model is similar to that used in other areas with two distinct differences: in addition to social care, the company will also run fostering, education and early help provision; and chief executive of Worcestershire Children First Catherine Driscoll has retained the director of children’s services (DCS) role at the council.
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