Innovation funding should help ‘inadequate' councils
Derren Hayes
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
In early 2014, the tri-borough councils in London became one of the first areas to benefit from the Department for Education's £100m, two-year Children's Social Care Innovation Fund.
In early 2014, the tri-borough councils in London became one of the first areas to benefit from the Department for Education’s £100m, two-year Children’s Social Care Innovation Fund.
The £4.2m handed to the tri-borough was used to “completely redesign” the delivery of children’s social care across the three councils – Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster. They have introduced a new model of social work practice that has helped broaden and deepen professionals’ skills.
The change has delivered rapid results; earlier this month, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster became the first authorities to have children’s services awarded an overall “outstanding” judgment by Ofsted under its single inspection framework.
It would be churlish to suggest money alone is responsible for the councils’ achievements – increased joint working, low social worker caseloads and a lot of hard work by managers and practitioners have all played their part – but it is impossible to ignore the importance of having access to funding specifically earmarked for system reform. That is why the DfE’s decision to make a further £200m available through the Innovation Fund over the next four years is so important. The money will expand existing good work, but it must also be targeted at helping struggling authorities find ways of improving services. This should start with the 24 children’s services departments judged “inadequate” by Ofsted since the current inspection system began in 2013.
Following Dudley Council’s inadequate judgment last week, there are now more children’s services in the lowest rating than there are rated “outstanding” or “good” put together. But tri-borough has proved that with excellent leadership, innovative practice and a significant chunk of cash, children’s services departments can deliver outstanding results.
Special reports to provide in-depth coverage
This edition of CYP Now sees a significant change, with the publication of our first in-depth monthly special report. This month, we focus on attachment and neglect. This fundamental issue is at the heart of many of the problems experienced by the vulnerable children and families practitioners work with every day.
We will be publishing special reports in the first fortnightly edition of each month. Upcoming topics include outdoor learning, residential child care and youth offending prevention. The reports will follow a similar format, with sections setting out the policy context, research evidence and case studies of effective practice. The research section will, more often than not, be based on academic studies explored and summarised by Research in Practice.
In addition to the special reports, we will be introducing two further regular items, beginning with our next edition on 26 April and in the second fortnightly edition of each month thereafter. The first is on leadership, where an experienced professional will provide practical guidance on a particular aspect of leadership in children’s services. The second focuses on lessons from serious case reviews, based on thematic reports by NSPCC. We hope you find the special reports and these other new items useful and informative.
