Local authorities risk being hit by a shortage of good candidates to be directors of children's services (DCSs) and have a job on their hands to boost the appeal of the role.
According to a report by the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) and the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC), around half of DCSs will retire or leave the profession in the next three years. But only half of senior staff beneath them who were surveyed said they aspired to step into their shoes.
Lack of training and the "risk exposure" surrounding the high-profile nature of the role were a turn-off, suggesting that the sacking of Haringey Council's DCS Sharon Shoesmith after the Baby P scandal has hit recruitment.
The limited backgrounds of applicants could also be a worry, says the report. The majority of current DCSs come from education or social care. This needs to be widened, according to the findings, with applicants from other areas of the children's and youth sector and also the voluntary sector needed to ensure the best candidate is chosen.
Training leaders
Action is already being taken to avert a recruitment crisis. The government has commissioned NCSL, CWDC and the Association of Directors of Children's Services, through the 2020 Children and Young People's Workforce Strategy, to develop leadership courses for current and aspiring DCSs.
From September, this will involve an experienced DCS mentoring every new recruit. Mentors from the ranks of retired DCSs, who will be given additional training, will also be sought at a later date.
A leadership programme for 24 DCSs will be launched at the same time, tailored to the needs of those who sign up. It will include sessions on team building and improving political relationships, two issues on which DCSs are keen to have extra support.
From 2010, there will be training courses for aspiring DCSs, possibly through the ADCS's Virtual Staff College training programme.
Maggie Farrar, the NCSL's strategic director for policy, research and development, says a talent-management programme is also in the pipeline. This will help to identify and train potential DCSs in health, justice and voluntary sector organisations.
"This is a proposal that we have put to the government. We need to be sending out a clear message to the range of children's professions that the DCS role is one that their talented leaders and managers can aspire to," she says.
The report concedes this will not be easy. Work is needed to persuade less senior council staff and those in other sectors that the breadth and high-profile nature of the role can be managed.
Ahead of these proposals, councils should also be improving their succession planning, which the report found was lacking in too many cases. "DCSs, for example, could be ensuring that their deputies get the chance to shadow them," says Farrar. "Our experience in the school sector has shown us that once they see the job up close it develops a hunger to take on that role."
A lack of ethnic diversity is another worry that Farrar admits needs to be addressed, since the overwhelming majority of DCSs are white, although just over half are female.
While many Tier 2 and Tier 3 council managers are not convinced that the DCS role will bring job satisfaction, the research showed the current crop of DCSs are motivated by the job, especially by improving outcomes for children and a sense of personal achievement. No DCS named money as their primary motivator.
