The London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has won an award from the government for its own version of the integrated children's system.
In October 2008, the borough refused a £147,000 grant to develop an ICS according to government specification, and designed its own, called KCics. Kensington and Chelsea has now received a national e-government award and is exploring marketing KCics to other local authorities.
Shireen Ritchie, cabinet member for family and children's services in Kensington and Chelsea, said: "Refusing a large government grant is a difficult and controversial thing to do. But we believe the government spec for this critical recording system was over-engineered. It was wrong for the borough and wrong for our children in need."
IT experts hired by the borough said government guidelines for the ICS would add unnecessary cost and the model was so detailed it would lead to box-ticking rather than professionally judged risk assessment.
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