Support for children and families "heading in the right direction"

North East Lincolnshire Council’s Children’s Services is currently undertaking transformation work, and as part of this process, officers organised a Peer Review.

Local Authority Peer Reviews, conducted by the Local Government Association (LGA), assess a council's performance – either as a whole or in specific areas - and provide constructive feedback for improvement. The reviews are carried out by experienced professionals and councillors from other local authority areas.

The team spent three days in North East Lincolnshire, shadowing and speaking with children, staff, local councillors and other professionals from partner organisations such as Humberside Police. The aim of the review was to give a comprehensive heath check of the service, looking for any areas requiring further consideration.

The Peer Review team found that the authority has committed to listening to the views of children, and that staff feel supported by Director of Children’s Services, Ann-Marie Matson, the council leadership team, and councillors.

Additionally, feedback highlighted the improved relationships with partner organisations, and improvements in encouraging young people who have grown up in care to pursue employment, education or training.  

Team members also identified some areas of progress that needed consolidating, including the need to develop a story of place, to embed the children in care promise across the partnership, and to ensure that the political, corporate and financial support of the whole council remains in place in the coming years.

Speaking following the completion of the Peer Review, Councillor Margaret Cracknell, portfolio holder for children and education, said:

“I’m really pleased with the feedback we’ve received from the Peer Review team and would like to thank them for coming here and examining our services.

“It’s so important that we undertake regular health checks of our services to ensure that children and families are getting the right level of support at the right time.

“The team that carry out the peer review are people who have experienced first-hand the challenges faced by local authorities, and have also experienced the innovative approaches to supporting people.

“The feedback from the team will inform our continued improvement work. I’d like to extend my thanks to our staff and Councillors who have supported the peer review team with their work.”

Ann-Marie Matson, Director of Children’s Services, said the feedback was ‘incredibly useful’.

“We spent a lot of time talking with the peer review team about the challenges locally, and about how our staff are working hard to ensure that children and families are listened to, and that their views inform our services.

“Peer Reviews are always a great opportunity to gain some very honest, well-informed feedback from the perspective of people who are doing this work elsewhere. It’s incredibly useful, and I thank them for taking the time to come here and listen to our staff.

“Our attention is now focusing on continuing the improvement work that we have been carrying out. In the last twelve months, we’ve seen many aspects of practice improvement that includes a strengthened offer for our children in care, care leavers and our foster carers. We have increased the numbers of permanent social workers for children in care which is having a positive impact.

“These are all signs that we are heading in the right direction, but as the Peer Review has identified, there is more work to be done to consolidate and strengthen some areas. We are committed to continuing our improvement journey for the benefit of children and families across our Borough.”

More and more social workers are joining our team. Be part of Our Children Our Future and change lives. Browse vacancies at www.nelincs.gov.uk/SocialWorkJobs.