Exclusive: Birmingham children's services to become independent trust

Birmingham’s children’s services have been rated "inadequate" since 2009.

A spokesman for Birmingham Council said: “As part of Birmingham City Council’s improvement journey it is the intention to move to a new model of children’s services - a voluntary trust.
 
“We are now at the start of the third year of our agreed improvement journey plan and it is acknowledged by our children’s services commissioner that expected progress has been made.

“Key to this has been putting families at the centre of social work. It is now the time to consider a model that has social workers at its centre.
 
“This is something we have been discussing for some time with the Department for Education and this is the next logical step on our improvement journey.

“In moving to the next phase, Birmingham City Council and the DfE are committed to working together, along with our members, staff, partners and trades unions, on details of how the trust will operate.
 
“At this time we are setting out our intention to move to a voluntary trust. In due course, however, a formal decision will need to be taken by cabinet.”

Various attempts have been made to improve services in Birmingham, but Lord Norman Warner, who was commissioner of children’s services from June 2014 until earlier this month, described an attempted reorganisation of services in 2012 as "disastrous".

Andrew Christie, former director of children’s services at the tri-borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster, took over from Warner this month.

He was handed responsibility by the Department for Education for ensuring Birmingham Council delivers the government-approved three-year improvement plan.

There have been a number of child protection scandals in Birmingham, including the case of two-year-old Keanu Williams, who was beaten to death by his mother in 2011, and seven-year-old Khyra Ishaq, who starved to death in 2008.

Earlier this month, Kandyce Downer was convicted of murdering 18-month-old Keegan Downer less than a year after being appointed her legal guardian.

The 18-month-old girl was removed from a foster placement and responsibility for her care was handed to 34-year-old Kandyce Downer through a special guardianship order (SGO).

Her foster carer had raised concerns with social services that Downer, who was a member of Keegan's extended family, may have had financial motivation, however an special guardianship order was granted in January 2015.

Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr Khalid Mahmood called on the commissioner of Birmingham City Council to suspend the use of SGOs until a serious case review has been completed.

News of the decision to create a new organisation to run child protection and safeguarding services in the city comes just days before the broadcast of a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary which features an undercover social worker within the local authority’s children’s services department.

The government is keen for councils to establish trusts as part of efforts to improve services. In September, an independent trust was set up by Slough Council to run children’s services, the second to make such a move after Doncaster Council in October 2014.

Northamptonshire County Council is also looking to transfer the running of its children’s services to an arms-length, council-owned organisation.