Three years ago Birmingham City Council formed a children’s trust to deliver key aspects of children’s services.
The move was in response to ongoing poor performance with services rated “inadequate” by Ofsted for nearly 10 years.
While some councils have had children’s trust models imposed upon them by government, this was a voluntary decision, which made all the difference, believes chief executive Andy Couldrick.
“If the government had imposed the trust, in the way they did in Doncaster and Slough for example, it would not have been owned by the council,” he says. “We have maintained an open relationship with elected members and officers, and that has not always been the case with some other trusts. Sometimes relationships have been quite fraught.”
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