This article was originally published in the Times Public Agenda.
England must be the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up. This is the aspiration which underpins the Government’s Children’s Plan. There is a real opportunity to convert this ambition into reality over the next decade. But the success of this plan – which combines policies, principles, specific targets, detailed proposals and interventions across all the services for children and young people – depends on the ability to think strategically and work in collaboration not competition.
Experience around children and families, who had many different services making contact with them over the years has shown poor outcomes. The agencies didn’t talk to each other so at best the family would have to repeat the progress of giving information over and over again. At worst children fell between services and needs were not met. The agencies expected the child to fit into the services view of the world rather thinking about the child first. The Children’s Plan aims to do better by the children. This means listening to and shaping services around the needs of children, young people and communities.
Children’s services need to share common aims, objectives, needs analysis and priorities and they need to form strategic partnerships. This means sharing information and working with schools, health, voluntary organisations, police, community organisations such as sports, arts, leisure, housing and regeneration. This collaboration puts children firmly at the centre of services and removes the need for individual services to compete for time, money and resources.
Local Government has already been active in developing the children’s agenda at authority level, moving rapidly to meet the requirements of the Children’s Act 2004. They established the roles of Portfolio-Holder and Director of Children’s Services, and combined education and children’s social services in organizational terms. There is also a useful range of experience from the Children’s Trust pathfinders. This includes strategic planning with health and other partners, opportunities for children and young people to contribute their views and multi-agency local delivery arrangements. However successful delivery of this next phase requires considerable innovation and leadership. It requires transformational leaders and children’s services teams who work across service and professional boundaries and in close contact with local partners and communities.
Across local government including elected members and partner organisations, there is a need for broad understanding of the scope of Children’s Services and more open-minded approaches to identifying and selecting leaders. In the new children’s services environment, leaders need an enabling leadership style, polished people and management skills, a strong commitment to integration and partnership and a readiness to learn. These skills go beyond single service experience.
In the past, if you were a social worker you would become more senior by working up that single service. Now, leaders in children’s services need skills for multi-agency leadership roles. These skills may have been developed through social work, education, health or other organisations, even community policing or the private sector. By shifting the focus from straight line experience there will be a much wider pool of talent and potentially a far more rewarding way of working that delivers better outcomes for children.
The Children’s Plan underlines the commitment to put children and young people at the centre and to secure coherent, joined up service delivery. Local children’s partnerships, led by local authorities, have already made good progress in changing to benefit children. They are now well positioned to build on the flexible approaches, working collaboratively and seeking the leaders with the right skills to secure the best possible outcomes for children and young people.
About the author
Brenda Bignold is an Associate Partner at Veredus. Brenda has a wealth of experience in the education, local government and not-for-profit sectors. She was previously Corporate Director of Education Services for Northamptonshire County Council and formerly Education and ICT Director of Partnership for Schools. Brenda is well known for her passionate interest in children’s services and has recently supported a number of local authorities in developing their capability and infrastructure in this area.