News

John Legg

The latest appointments in the social care sector

John Legg has been appointed as director of the Royal National Institute for the Blind in Scotland. He was previously at Glasgow Council as head of service for strategic management in the social work department.

Cumbria Council has appointed Jill Stannard as new corporate director for adult services.  She will join Cumbria from Hampshire Council, where she is assistant director of social services.


Susan Elan Jones, former director of the Christian Action & Response Society homeless families project in Haringey, has been appointed as the new fundraising executive at homeless charity Housing Justice.

Sarah-Jane Armitage is to be therapy manager at Caldecott Foundation, a Kent charity running residential homes and schools for abused and neglected children.

The Commission for Social Care Inspection has appointed former social services director at Wandsworth Council in London Peter West as acting head of data and market analysis.

Patrick Vernon is new chair of the Westminster Partnership for Racial Equality.

Sarah Richards has joined the Poppy Project, run by the Eaves Housing for Women charity, as counter trafficking development worker.

ASRA Greater London housing association has appointed Richard D’Cruz as head of development.

Enver Solomon, former senior policy officer at the Prison Reform Trust, has joined the charity Revolving Doors as head of policy and research. His brief encompasses mental health as well as criminal justice.

Amanda Embleton has been appointed as regional director in the north east of England by Four Seasons Health Care, the largest operator of care homes in the UK.

Archie Stoddart is joining Shelter Scotland as director. He currently works for the Scottish Executive's private sector and affordable housing policy division.

Moira Swann has been appointed as new corporate director for children's services at Cumbria Council.

Andrew Kerr is to be new chief executive at North Tyneside Council. He is currently director for performance improvement at Birmingham Council.

Karen Croan has been appointed human resources director at Quarriers, a charity providing services for vulnerable children, families and adults in Scotland.

Paul Roberts is new director of strategy, information and development at the Improvement and Development Agency.

Jenny Goodall has been appointed as director of community and children’s services by the Corporation of London.

Eric Robinson is to be corporate director for social care and health at Staffordshire Council. 

Sir Christopher Kelly is new chair of the Compact working group, which aims to improve relationships between government and the voluntary sector.

Children’s charity NCH has promoted Darren Johnson to deputy director of its London region.

Kent Council has appointed Oliver Mills to the new post of managing director of adult services.

Richard Webb has been appointed corporate director of adult social care at Telford & Wrekin Council.

Henry Mathias has been appointed as the new manager to oversee care services across the south west of Scotland for the Care Commission.

Kathy Brown is to head HFT’s services in north Oxfordshire. The charity, previously known as Home Farm Trust, supports adults with learning difficulties.

Moira Dunworth is to be head of education at the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland. She will train staff working in children’s palliative care.

Rachel Whale has set up management consultancy Vanilla Freelance, specialising in development of people and organisations. Whale was previously operations director with mental health charity Rethink.

Lincolnshire council has appointed Tony McArdale as chief executive. He is currently Wellingborough Council’s chief executive. He will join Lincolnshire in September.

Polly Neate

The editor of Community Care Polly Neate is leaving the magazine in November after six years in the role. Neate has worked on Community Care for 15 years and will take up her new post in the children's charity NCH  as executive director of business strategy and communications later this year.

Martin Narey has taken on the role as chief executive of Barnardo's. Narey was formerly the chief executive of the National Offender Mangement Service and prior to that he was director general of the Prison Service. He takes over from Roger Singleton who is retiring. 

Former MP Hilton Dawson has been appointed chief executive of children’s residential care provider Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa. Dawson stood down as MP last month to resume social work and take part in the transformation of children’s services on the ground.

Simone Aspis is the new parliamentary and campaigns worker for the British Council of Disabled People (BCODP). She was previously parliamentary and campaigns worker for People First.

Lin Homer has been appointed the new Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND), Home Office Permanent Secretary. Homer succeeds Bill Jeffrey who left to take up the post of Security and Intelligence Coordinator and Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office. Homer, who is currently chief executive of Birmingham Council, is expected to take up her post in August.

The Fostering Network has appointed Hazel Halle as the new director of services England. Halle has 25 years experience working in local authority childcare and was a service manager for fostering and adoption at Nottingham Council for eight years.

A new permanent board has been appointed to take forward the work of the Children’s Workforce Development Council for England. The Board consists of Steve Alexander, chief executive of the Pre-School Learning Alliance, Elaine Box, chief executive of Children’s Links, Vic Citarella, consultant with the LGA and Sir Brian Follett chair of the Teacher Training Agency. In addition, John Harris, director of children at Hertfordshire Council and James Kempton executive member for children at Islington Council join the board. Other members consist of the chief executive of the National Childminding Association Gill Haynes, chief executive of Lifelong Learning UK David Hunter, chief executive of Connexions Humber John Papworth, chief executive of Coram Family Dame Gillian Pugh, chief executive of Children’s Society Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association Purnima Tanuka and chief executive of the Fostering Network Robert Tapsfied. Vicki Lant, head of service care and education at Cambridge. Sherry Malik corporate director of Strategy and Performance at Cafcass, Roger Morgan, children’s rights director at CSCI and Emma Phillips, operations director of Child Base join the group. The final members of the board are Charles N Rice director of training at the NCA, Jon Richards, senior national officer of UNISON, Bridget Robb professional officer of BASW and Tom Starkey director of Clifford House.

The Scottish Care Commission has created three new posts to oversee regulations and standards in each of the main categories of care in Scotland, services for children, services for adults and independent healthcare. Ronnie Hill has been appointed as the new director of children’s services regulation. He was formerly the regional manager of the Care Commission’s South East region. Liz Norton, formerly the regional manager for the South West, has been appointed director of adult services regulation and Susan Brimelow, previously manager of the Care Commission’s independent healthcare division, has become director of health care regulation.

Addie Stevenson has joined the Aberlour Child Care Trust as director of children and family services. She was previously working at the Association of Directors of Social Work for two years where she developed a framework for good staff support and people management in the social care sector. Aberlour runs 44 projects that provide specialist care, support and advice to children and young people across Scotland each year.

Hampshire Council has appointed Rea Mattocks as its new director of adult social services. She had been responsible for adult social services at the London borough of Merton since 2000 first as director or housing and social services and then from February 2005 as director of community and housing, following structural changes at the authority.

Nancy Platts has joined The Maternity Alliance, a charity for new parents and children under one-year-old, as its new director. She was formerly head of policy and campaigns at childcare charity Daycare Trust.

Former Southampton teacher Clive Webster has been appointed as the council’s new executive director for children’s services. He will lead a single children’s service across education social care and health. Webster was previously acting assistant chief executive of Surrey Council.

Susan Crane has been appointed as the new chief executive of childcare charity Daycare Trust. She has recently worked as an international development consultant advising British, European and International NGOs.

Mary Wilmont has retired as director of social services at the Northern Health and Social Services Board, the largest of the four health and social services board in Northern Ireland. She has worked in social services for 39 years and started her career as a trainee social worker with Antrim Country Welfare in 1966.

Rachel Whittlestone has joined the National Children’s Bureau as training development manager. She will be responsible for the development and delivery of NCB’s training packages for professionals working with children.

Roger Singleton

Roger Singleton, the chief executive of children’s charity Barnardo’s, is to retire in December. Singleton joined Barnardo’s in 1974 as deputy director of childcare and became chief executive in 1984.

The first director of adult social services at Islington Council in London is Gwen Ovshinsky, previously director of strategy and commissioning in a joint post for Islington social services and Islington Primary Care Trust.

Julie Mellor, chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission, is also to chair the board of campaigning charity Fathers Direct.

Trafford Council's new chief executive is David McNulty, currently executive director at Walsall Council.

David Reed has joined the board of trustees at disability charity Leonard Cheshire, with specific responsibility for oversight of communications. He recently retired as director of corporate affairs at Whitbread.

Jim Coulter, chief executive of the National Housing Federation and Sir Thomas Legg, chair of Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust, have been appointed as commissioners to the Audit Commission’s Board by the Deputy Prime Minister.

Michael Burton, a trustee of the Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation (RADAR), Christopher Holmes OBE, Britain’s most successful Paralympic swimmer and Philippa Russell CBE, director of the Council for Disabled Children have all been reappointed as commissioners to the Disability Rights Commission.

Gordon Jeyes, formerly director of children’s services for Stirling Council has been appointed as the deputy chief executive of the Children and Young People’s department at Cambridgeshire Council.

Nick Danagher

The National Centre for Independent Living has appointed Nick Danagher as its new executive director.

Jan Tallis has taken up her appointment as chief executive of children’s charity School-Home Support.

Karen Houghton has been appointed as a new regional manager for West Midlands by Four Seasons Health Care.

Haringey Council has announced the management team for its new Children's Service. Sharon Shoesmith has been appointed director, Cecilia Hitchen will be deputy director, children and families, Janette Karklins, has been appointed deputy director, school standards. David Holmes will be deputy director, service delivery and performance.

Rosalind Turner

Suffolk Council’s has appointed Rosalind Turner as the first Director for Children and Young People.

Michael Clark has been appointed Head of Commercial Services at Clouds, the Wiltshire based substance misuse charity.

Ian Bruce has now left the post of chief executive of older people’s charity Abbeyfield Scotland.  Michael White has taken over as acting chief executive.

Professor Al Aynsley-Green

Professor Al Aynsley-Green has been appointed as the children's commissioner for England. Aynsley-Green is currently the National Clinical Director for Children within the Department for Health.

Jo Hobbs has been appointed as the national development manager of London-based children’s mentoring charity, Chance UK. She will work across the UK supporting the development of mentoring programmes based on the Chance UK model. She has been working in the voluntary youth sector for the past five years, including roles at London Youth and Girlguiding UK.

Karen Houghton has been appointed as a new regional manager for the West Midlands by care home owner and operator Four Seasons Health Care. Previously she has been the manager at two different Four Seasons homes in the past few years.

North Yorkshire Council has appointed John Marsden as its new chief executive. He will take up the post after the council elections in May and replaces Jeremy Walker. Marsden is currently chief executive of North Tyneside Council.


Michael Boyall has been appointed to the board of trustees for the Independent Living Funds .There are two such funds operating in the UK paying grants to people with high support needs who want to live independently. They are discretionary trusts created and funded by the Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Social Security (Northern Ireland) but operate at arms length to the government. Boyall was previously an ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Peter Gilroy

Mike Pitt has decided not to renew his contract as Kent Council’s chief executive when it expires later this year. Prior to his time at Kent, Pitt was chief executive of Cheshire Council and he has served as national president of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives. It is likely the post of chief executive will be taken by Peter Gilroy, the director of social services at Kent and ADSS lead on asylum and immigration.



Bristol Council has appointed Annie Hudson as an acting director of social services and health to lead the department through the forthcoming budget setting process after learning that director Bill McKitterick will be off sick for at least a month. Hudson is currently divisional director for children’s services at the council.

Gordon Jeyes has joined Cambridgeshire Council, as its deputy chief executive – children and young people. For the last five years Jeyes has been director of children’s services at Stirling Council and for the four years prior to that he was director of education at the same council.

Jonathan Crossley-Holland will take up the role of the first executive director of children services at Sheffield Council from the end of July. Crossley-Holland has been executive director of education at the council for seven years.

Following Penny Thompson’s move to London to take up the post of chief executive at the London Borough of Hackney, Cath Roff has been appointed acting executive director of social services at Sheffield Council.

Newcastle Council has appointed Catherine Fitt as its first executive director of children’s services. She is likely to take up the post at the beginning of April. Fitt is currently change leader of children’s services at Redcar and Cleveland Council.

Ponniah Rasanesan

The chief executive of Ujima Housing Association, Ponniah Rasanesan, is taking early retirement after 13 years of service. He has held this position for two years and the board has asked Qadeer Kiani, the association’s housing services director, to take up the role of acting chief executive

Judith Ellis has been appointed as a senior development officer at the Family Support Unit at the National Children’s Bureau. She will take forward a project to improve outcomes for vulnerable children by improving practitioners’ communication skills.

Dawn Warwick has been appointed as deputy chief executive, community and cultural services at Slough Council. She was previously director of social services at the same council.

Paul Snell has been appointed as the head of learning disability charity Walsingham following Mark Snell’s announcement that he wished to retire from the position. The appointment will start in mid-February.

Malcolm Philip has joined the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health as its new director of workforce development. He has worked as an independent consultant in human resources since 1999 and before then he was director of human resources at the Bethlem and Maudsley NHS Trust for five years.

Jane Atkinson has been appointed as the chair of the North East London Mental Health NHS Trust. She is chief executive of First Premise Ltd, a company she founded 18 years ago, which specialises in urban renewal and joint venture projects.

Maggie Jones is set to become the new chief executive of the National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations this month following the retirement of Erica De’Ath at the end of last month. Jones is currently policy and practice development manager at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Sir William Utting, formerly the chief inspector of social services, has become chair of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s trustees. He replaces Kenneth Dixon, who retired from the board at the end of December.

The English Community Care Association has appointed Mike Padgham and John Burton in two newly created regional manager posts. They will ensure better representation of the association’s members across the country.

Susan McIntosh, communications officer at Surrey Council, has been appointed as the new chair of the Association of Social Care Communicators.

The Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has announced the reappointment of Margaret Ford as chair to the board of English Partnerships for a second term. She was first appointed in April 2002 and has been re-appointed from April 2005 to serve a further three years. 

The director of the Daycare Trust, Stephen Burke, is to leave the national child care charity to become chief executive of Counsel and Care, the organisation that promotes better housing and care for older people.

Jane Atkinson has been appointed as chair to lead the North East London Mental Health NHS Trust.

Paul Osburn, executive director of People First at Harrow Council, has retired after 18 years with the authority. He will be replaced by Lorraine O’Reilly, currently director of education at Southend-on- Sea Borough Council.

The Cabinet Office has announced three new appointments to the Better Regulation Task Force. Adrian Askew, general secretary at the trade union Connect, Lynne Berry, chief executive at the GSCC, and Simon Murphy, chief executive at Birmingham Forward, will contribute towards trade union, consumer and European regulation. Victoria Younghusband, partner at law firm Lawrence Graham LLP, has been reappointed to the taskforce.

Education specialist Ty Goddard has been appointed as the new managing director of the educational advisory organisation, School Works.

National mental health charity Maca have appointed Anne Beales as their first ever director of service user involvement.

Dr Ute Navidi, former head of policy at Childline, has been appointed director of London Play.

Professor Bob Fryer will take up a new post in the Department of Health as national director for widening participation in learning as part of the new NHS institute for learning, skills and innovation.

Ann Raybould, previously head of international finance for Oxfam, joins Parkside Housing Group as Resources Director.

Anna Coote will take up the post of head of engaging patients and public at the Healthcare Commission in February.

Pauline Young has been appointed as Wales Trustee of the Family Fund.

Fiona Green will take up the post of the first chief executive for the new mental health and learning disabilities NHS Trust for Surrey and North East Hampshire in 1 April.

Director of social care and strategic housing at Herefordshire Council Sue Fiennes has taken up the post of children’s director at the authority.

Lord Christopher Haskins, Arshad Javed, Jan Wilson, Linda Pollard, Aiden Rave and Laura Moynahan have taken up appointments at the management board of Yorkshire Forward.

Alan Burns, chief executive of Trent strategic health authority, has been seconded to a new role leading the service implementation of the national programme for IT into the NHS.

Lord Victor Adebowale CBE, chief executive of Turning Point, has been appointed chair of the stop and search action team community panel at the Home Office.

Linda Barker has been appointed as the new head of the homelessness implementation division at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. She was formerly on secondment from Leicester City Council to the homelessness and housing support directorate.

Head of operations at Cumbria Care Majorie Smyth has joined Somerset Care as operations manager.

Dr Wendy Thomson has been appointed as the chief executive of the local government leadership centre. She took up the post on secondment from her present role as the Prime Minister’s advisor on public services reform.

Peter Davidson has been appointed as the new head of social care at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust.

Solihull Council has appointed Bindi Nagra to a new post of head of community care services. He was previously head of adult care for the council.

Brian Harty has been appointed as the director of services and Andy Taylor the director of development at Action for Blind People.

The new chief executive of Stonham housing association is Andrew Painton.

Barbara Herts has taken up the post of director at children’s mental health charity Youngminds. She was previously with the Department of Education and Skills.

Lana Morris has been appointed as chief executive for long-term medical conditions with the Cheshire and Merseyside Strategic Health Authority. She was previously chief executive of the commission for patient and public involvement in health care.

Sarah Pickup has been appointed as director of Hertfordshire Council’s adult care services. She is the Association of Directors of Social Services spokesperson on carers.

Andrew Purkis OBE has been elected as the new chair of the Empty Homes Agency.

Shan Nicholas has been appointed chief executive for The Princess Royal Trust for Carers.

North Yorkshire Council has appointed Derek Law as the new director of social services. He replaces Rosemary Archer who left the authority to join Leeds Council.

Dr Husna Ahmad, operations director at Faith Regen UK, has been appointed as a specialist adviser to the Equalities Monitoring and Review Group at the London Development Agency. Faith Regen UK’s chief executive Saif Ahmad has been appointed by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister as part of a new advisory group to examine how the allocation of social housing affects black and minority ethnic communities.

Samatha Milbank, chief executive of Nottingham City primary care trust has been appointed as the deputy health representative on the East Midlands Regional Assembly.

Dr Hywel Francis MP is to become the vice-president of carers’ organisation Carers UK. A private members bill tabled by Francis giving new rights to information and greater access to life long learning, work and leisure recently became law.

Norfolk Council has appointed Lisa Christianson as its first director of children’s services. Christenson is expected to take up her new appointment in the new year. She is currently the director of social services for the council.

Sally Scriminger has been appointed as the new chief executive of Alcohol Recovery Project, an organisation working with people affected by problem drinking and related issues such as substance misuse, social exclusion and mental illness. She joins the organisation from StepForward, the social care division of Metropolitan Housing Trust Group where she was an assistant director.
 
Liz Atkins has been appointed as the director of strategy and communications at the National Housing Federation. She was previously the head of policy and public affairs at children’s charity the NSPCC.

Andrew Hind has been appointed as the Charity Commission’s first chief executive. Hind has had a number of senior executive roles with ActionAid and Barnardo’s. He also co-founded the Charity Finance Director’s Group to promote excellence in financial management for charities.

Deputy chief medical officer professor Aidan Halligan has been appointed as the new chief executive officer for the Irish Health Service Executive. He will take up the post in April 2005.

Peter Stybelski has been appointed as the chief executive of Cumbria County Council. He is currently chief executive at Carlisle City Council where he helped to secure the councils “good” rating in the comprehensive performance assessment.

Caroline Tapster

Caroline Tapster has been appointed as chief executive at Hertfordshire County Council. She has been interim chief executive since September last year. She joined the council in November 1995 as the assistant director (commissioning) for social services and became the director of social services in November 2000.

Morag Alexander has been reappointed as the convener of the Scottish Social Services Council. She has been in post since August 2001. She was formerly director of the Equal Opportunities Commission in Scotland. Her reappointment will run for three years from August 1 2004 to July 31 2004.

Adrienne Roberts is to become Nottingham City Council’s deputy chief executive. She is currently a regional director of local government practice at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. She has also been both head of performance and an assistant housing director at Birmingham council.

Sallyanne Johnson has been appointed as corporate director of social services and health at Nottingham City Council. She has spent six years as an inspector at the Department of Health and began her career as a social worker.

Bexley Care Trust has made Simon Leftley its new chief executive. Leftley is currently director of social services and housing at Bexley Council. He will start his new post in September. He joined the council in 1999 as assistant director of commissioning and took on his current role in January 2003.

Derrick Anderson, chief executive of Wolverhampton City Council, has been appointed as the Home Office’s diversity champion for race, gender and disability issues. Anderson will be working with the Home Office board on a new five year staff race and diversity programme.

The Multiple Sclerosis International Federation, which links the work of 41 MS societies worldwide, has appointed Sarah Phillips as its chair and president. Phillips, who has multiple sclerosis, has been chairman of the UK MS Society since 1998.

The home secretary, David Blunkett, has announced that Charles Smith and Dexter Hutt have been appointed as part-time commissioners to the Commission for Racial Equality. Sarah Spencer and Kay Hampton have had their appointments as deputy chairs to the CRE extended for a further 12 months to 31 March 2005. Kamaljeet Jandu has had his appointment as a commissioner extended until the end of May 2005. These appointments are all of those to be made to the CRE in 2004.

Councillor Alex Aldridge of Flintshire County Council has been elected as the new leader of the Welsh Local Government Association council. Aldridge will be leading the new power-sharing WLGA that will involve all political groups contributing to the direction of the body.

Making Space, a charity for schizophrenics and other mental health sufferers, has appointed its former head of housing, social and health care services, Elaine Parker-Johnson, as its new chief executive.

Robinia, an organisation that specialises in support services for adult and young people with learning disabilities, has appointed Karen Simpson as its regional operations manager.

Adam Sharples has been made the welfare to work, children and disabled people group director at the Department for Work and Pensions. He is currently the director of the Inland Revenue’s International Division.