Care Review team ‘made up of civil servants’, chair reveals
Fiona Simpson
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
The team behind the recently launched Care Review will largely be made up of civil servants, chair Josh MacAlister has said.
In a Twitter thread answering “common” question posed to the director of Frontline social care, who was named as chair of the review last month, MacAlister wrote: “The full-time team will mainly be civil servants (as is typical for reviews like this) and we’ll share more about who is on the team once it’s fully staffed in March.”
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The Department for Education later clarified that MacAlister is referring to the "secretariat team that supports the review" rather than the review panel.
The chair also played down claims the outcome of the review would be similar to a blueprint for children’s social care co-authored by MacAlister in 2019.
The blueprint, which was widely backed by local authority leaders, was launched by Frontline and think-tank the Centre for Public Impact.
Its focus is on cutting red tape and focusing on the relationships between children, families and children’s professionals.
The charity and think-tank claimed at the time of publication, that under the plan, social workers would be able to spend 60 per cent more of their time with children and families, and see their caseloads reduced by a fifth.
This would ensure there is better continuity in support for families, the blueprint states.
It adds that under the proposals social workers would be empowered to make more decisions around children and families, and have access to wider support and expert advice and supervision.
Responding to the question: “Are you committed to the ‘Blueprint’ or are you open minded?”, MacAlister wrote: “The blueprint was a project shaped by social workers to apply one approach into the existing structures of children’s services. The review is much bigger than this. I'm very open to the review making different recommendations.”
He also shared a link to the document for anyone “interested” before vowing to “be prepared to recommend things that might be uncomfortable for government or those running children's social care”.
“Thinking boldly means challenging conventional wisdom. And if we find the need for additional investment in then I will argue for it,” he said.
The social media thread is the second shared by MacAlister, who will officially take up the position of chair next month.
In the first thread, published in January, he further explained the role of an Experts by Experience group made up of applicants with experience of the children’s social care system.
He also moved to defend claims he was not an “independent” chair due to Frontline’s funding links with government and called for critics to be “more generous” with one another online.
He said: “A few suggest that because I've secured government funding for charitable programmes I won’t be independent. By this logic, those in [local authorities], academia or elsewhere who secure public funding for projects would fail the independence test.
“If that's the logic then fair enough but I ask that those who are sceptical to judge me by my actions. Helping to get children a decent and fair start in life has been the focus of my career and that’s what will drive this review.”
An ongoing CYP Now poll suggests MacAlister’s role as chair of the Care Review has split opinions in the sector. Have your say here.