Meet the management team

Hampshire County Council is led by an expert group of skilled men and women who are dedicated to supporting the wellbeing of Hampshire residents. Learn more about them below.

CHILDREN’S SENIOR LEADERSHIP

Stuart Ashley – Director of Children’s Services

Stuart is the Director of Children’s Services. He is a qualified social worker and registered with Social Work England. Stuart has been a senior manager in Hampshire Children’s Services for over 15 years and has a proven track record in delivering the highest quality services to the most vulnerable children and families. As part of his Hampshire role, he has overseen the sector-led improvement service, funded by the DfE, working with a large number of local authority children’s services across England, supporting their improvement, from whole scale system change to bespoke packages of intervention. He passionately believes in continuous improvement and innovation, driving services to be the very best they can.

Steph How – Deputy Director of Children’s Services

Steph How came to Hampshire in 2003 as an Assistant Team Manager and is now the Deputy Director of Children’s Services. As a Senior Practitioner, she spent 18 months seconded to the Isle of Wight in the initial stages of Hampshire’s partnership with them in 2013. During her five years as an Area Director, Steph also had the privilege of being the Strategic and Operational Lead for our Care to Change, Transforming Social Care and Modernising Placements programmes. Click here to learn more about her journey.

Sarah Marston – Area Director – South East

Sarah has worked in Hampshire since 2009, joining the council initially as a team manager. Prior to joining Hampshire, much of her experience was in long-term child protection and court work.

ADULTS’ SENIOR LEADERSHIP

Jess Hutchinson – Director of Adults’ Health and Care

Jess is Director for Adults’ Health and Care for Hampshire County Council. She was appointed in September 2024 having previously been an Assistant Director for Younger Adults and principal social worker at Hampshire County Council. She started out working as a volunteer for a young woman with physical disabilities and then supported people to move out of long-stay hospitals. She qualified as a social worker in 1998, working with people with learning disabilities, and has remained in Hampshire County Council in a range of management and leadership roles since then, having reached 25 years’ service this year.

Jason Brandon – Deputy Director of Adults’ Health and Care and Principal Social Worker

Currently, Jason is the Deputy Director of Adults’ Health and Care and Principal Social Worker at Hampshire County Council, co-chair of the national ADASS specialist mental health forum and Justice of the Peace.

Jason has been a registered social worker since 1998 having worked in a variety of social care and advocacy roles, primarily with younger adults in need of care and support for their mental health, learning disability and physical disability across health, local authority and the voluntary sector.

Jason has provided senior professional leadership and management within integrated health and social care service arrangements with technical expertise in mental health legislation.  More recently, he was seconded into the mental health social work lead role within the Office of the Chief Social Worker, Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) which concluded in May 2024.

Join the main page to find out more about jobs at Hampshire County Council.