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Director of Children’s Social Care, Martin Birch, reveals exactly how his team became the first in the country to go from Inadequate to Outstanding in just three years...
“I think it’s fair to say we weren’t expecting Outstanding - primarily because we didn’t think it was possible!” Martin reveals.
“Nobody has ever made that leap, from Inadequate to Outstanding, in the space of one inspection before, so although we knew we were doing really well, we were stunned by the result.”
Inspectors who visited the ‘Together for Children’ service back in July 2021 described a ‘tight-knit’ team and a ‘rich and stimulating environment’ which ‘empowers children to develop exceptional levels of perseverance and determination.’
Sunderland is now one of only 18 local authorities to attain this ‘Outstanding’ status, and one of only four in the North of England. Martin joined the team in October 2018, five months after the initial assessment that called for urgent change, and immediately set to work.
“NOT A GREAT DEAL HAD BEEN DONE, AND WE’D LOST QUITE A LOT OF MANAGERS AND SOCIAL WORKERS BY THEN, BECAUSE PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH A FAILING SERVICE,” HE SAYS.
“Only about half of our workforce was permanent, so my first job was recruiting both internally and externally into our ‘bare bones’ senior management team, which gave us a foundation to build from.
“From there we were able to recruit permanent social workers on the basis that we were turning things around.” Martin and his team also set about changing the culture of the service, creating an open leadership-style of practice, with a firm open-door policy.
“I moved all of the senior managers into the same workspace as everyone else,” says Martin.
“I took an office right in the middle of the social work offices, and my senior managers and I encouraged social workers to approach us and tell us if something wasn’t working.”
Martin also focused on reducing caseloads, taking the service average of 40+ cases per social worker back in 2018, to an average of just over 17. “This is allowing us to do quality social work with children and families.”
“We also introduced a new model of intervention with families, adopting the Signs of Safety approach, which has been fantastic.
“Another important focus for us was involving our children and young people in our journey, that has become one of the bedrocks for our foundation.
“Early on in this process we asked them what sort of services they wanted. They’ve helped us to develop some fantastic elements in our provision, our ‘Change the Language’ campaign has seen us working hard to adopt young people’s preferred terms - swapping ‘LAC’ for ‘cared for,’ and ‘care leavers’ for ‘care experienced.’
“All of these changes we were making, to stabilise the workforce and improve the service, began to have an effect very quickly.” Speaking about the report, which was released last month, Martin says there are some key elements that he is particularly proud of.
“I LOVED WHERE IT SAID STAFF FEEL VALUED AND ENJOY THEIR WORK.
“I’m also immensely proud of the work of our pre-birth team, who have been able to keep 78% of the children they’ve worked with, with their parents from birth.
“Pre-2018, that would have been a very different figure, in my opinion, and is truly reflective of the intensive work we’re doing.”
And as the service, and its team, continues its hard work on behalf of children and families in Sunderland, Martin says he is keen to pay it forward.
“When we started in 2018, we were at the foot of an enormous mountain, and we had such a long way to go,” he recalls.
“People generally don’t want to be associated with failing authorities, and it’s quite a lonely existence. “Now we’re striding up that mountain, and the peak’s within view, if we can offer any assistance, or advice to our colleagues around the country, who find themselves in the position we were in, we would love to do that.”
