DCS to step down after just a year in post
Emily Harle
Friday, June 9, 2023
The director of children’s services (DCS) at Plymouth City Council will step down from the position after just a year in the role, the local authority has announced.
Sharon Muldoon, who took over as DCS 12 months ago, has announced that she will leave on 1 September for personal reasons.
During her tenure, she was focused on transforming the department by modernising education and children’s services and addressing issues raised by Ofsted, which rated the department as "requires improvement to be good" in 2018. A focused visit in December 2022 highlighted concerns around safeguarding practice.
Muldoon said the decision to step down was “really tough”, but added she is proud of what the department had achieved over the year.
“Over the past 12 months we have stabilised the number of children and young people who enter care, we have reduced the number of children in unregistered placements, we have secured millions of pounds to open new family hubs, and we now have early help teams operating in localities across the city to provide more effective family support sooner,” she said.
Muldoon noted that the foundations for improvement have been laid, saying that she remains confident that the progress will continue in the future.
“There is now a clear improvement plan to transform services,” she said.
“The council has the support from the Department for Education and will continue to be supported by our improvement partner, Dorset Council.”
Tracey Lee, chief executive of Plymouth City Council, thanked Muldoon for putting the department on a positive trajectory.
She said: "Things are certainly starting to change thanks to Sharon's vision, commitment, passion and tenacity. We are committed to continue pushing forward with the work she started.”
The council is now recruiting for an interim DCS, while a permanent replacement is recruited.
Earlier this year, research from The Staff College revealed that the average tenure of a DCS is just three years, and that inadequate career pathways, transition planning and development opportunities had contributed to the retention issues.
The report, which was published after consultation with more than 100 current and former DCSs, found that rising workloads and disjointed cross-department communication had also contributed to the high turnover rates.
