The highs and lows of a children’s services’ transformation journey

When you hit rock bottom, the only way is up, so the saying goes. In 2021, when Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Council’s (BCP) children’s services received an inadequate rating from Ofsted, the workforce was devastated.

Cathi Hadley, corporate director of children’s services, remembers the time well. “I was on Teams [calls] with people who were crying and saying, ‘We didn’t deserve this’. And then we had people leaving because obviously people think, ‘Well, I’m not working here anymore if I’m rated inadequate’,” she says.

Five monitoring visits and one Ofsted inspection later, drastic change had taken place.

BCP Council was formed in 2019 by combining Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole councils, which had previously existed as three separate organisations.

Cathi joined BCP Council just as Ofsted passed its damning judgement. But she had a plan.

Cathi Hadley, corporate director of children’s services

“I would never let anyone say that we are inadequate. I said, ‘You have to say we are moving from inadequate’. There’s a sense of trajectory. We move from inadequate. We are not inadequate.

“Language was very, very important about how we changed, from something that was really dreadful, you turn it into an action. We can do something about it.”

And thus began the transformation.

“The most important people in all of this are the children and families, because they’re not receiving the service that they should. Something that you have to begin to do, is to say, ‘Okay, if we keep our eyes on the prize, the prize is good services for children, you can’t go wrong’,” says Cathi.

One of Cathi’s top priorities was to stabilise the workforce. Agency spend was significantly high but now over 70% of social workers, and most of senior management, are on permanent contracts. Not only has this cut costs but has provided stability for children and families.

This was reflected in Ofsted’s follow-up inspection, carried out in December 2024, the report of which said: “Leaders have worked relentlessly to strengthen, stabilise and train their workforce, enabling children to benefit from relationships with skilled and consistent social workers.”

Quality assurance

Another key element was quality assurance. Victoria Stone, who is a practice learning reviewer, part of children’s safeguarding and quality assurance, says quality assurance has hugely evolved over the last few years.

In terms of practice reviews, which are undertaken monthly, the process now includes practitioners, ensuring a collaborative conversation.

“There’s a focus on what we could do differently or better, or what do we need to do more of? So no matter how good the practice is, we’re always looking at what else could make a difference.

“Because it’s completed jointly with the practitioners, the practitioners feel part of it. They feel involved,” says Victoria.

Social workers view it as a learning exercise as well as an opportunity to improve practice and outcomes for children.

Another important addition to quality assurance is the introduction of quarterly practice learning weeks, which focus on one service at a time.

For example, in May, the independent reviewing service was looked at. Social workers and practitioners in other services volunteer to take part by observing practice, writing reviews and seeking feedback from children, families and professionals.

“Then we come together as a group at the end of the week to identify the themes and learning, and share that with the service,” says Victoria.

“The workforce has valued that because not only are they helping different services improve by making recommendations, they’re also reflecting on their own practice and what they’ve identified for others could potentially help them do something differently themselves.”

After getting through all the services, the practice learning weeks will focus on thematic reviews in different areas of practice.

The role of restorative practice

Leanne Morgan, PSW

Leanne Morgan, principal social worker (PSW), joined in 2023 and hit the ground running. She led the creation and implementation of a new bespoke restorative and trauma-informed practice model, collaborating with colleagues across children’s services.

Previously there was no PSW. Leanne recalls when she first started her role: “It was very busy! There was lots of improvement activity going on at quite a rapid pace, so I landed into what was a changing landscape. Lots had been done before I arrived so colleagues on the ground and senior managers had a good sense of direction.”

It was an environment where challenge wasn’t frowned upon. You were invited to do that; even though all this change was going on, you had space to be curious about it, which I thought was quite positive.

As well as embedding the new practice model, Leanne’s responsibilities have included retention and recruitment of social workers and enhancing the CPD offer to the social care workforce.

Leanne has recently built a new CPD curriculum for all practitioners. The offering will be joint with adult social care so both can share expertise in areas like transitions, apprenticeships and the assessed and supported year in employment (ASYE) programme.

The new curriculum offers reflective and peer critique spaces so that social workers can really consolidate their learning and put into practice what they have learned.

Feedback

Another important aspect that encompasses both restorative practice and quality assurance is making sure those receiving interventions from children’s services are satisfied.

To build better relationships, the children’s rights and engagement team, with participation from young people, has developed a feedback form for the assessment service to invite service users (including children) to fill in.

The aim is to understand how the intervention was for the families, what went well and what needs improvement.

Leanne shares an example of some feedback she got when she spoke to a young boy about his social worker, Pam.

He told her that he thought Pam was marvellous, funny and really helped him. But the best thing about Pam was that when she came to say goodbye, she brought him strawberries.

Leanne says: “He tells me, ‘I knew she listened to me because the first time she met me I told her my favourite fruit was strawberries’. That simple thing meant a lot to him. Pam’s attention being solely on him even at the very early stages of intervention meant such a lot.”

Celebrating ‘good’

As the journey has been long and hard, children’s services staff were invited to an event to celebrate the recent Ofsted outcome of ‘good’.

“I had people coming up to me who have been here through the whole journey who just said to me, ‘I didn’t realise how this would make me feel’,” says Cathi.

“I am so proud of what we’ve done. And so it was bringing everyone together, they could celebrate together. The whole place was buzzing. It was really, really amazing. It was their achievement and so it was brilliant.”

What’s next?

Cathi says BCP Council is not going to chase that elusive outstanding rating.

“I think there’s some outstanding things that happen here at BCP. Because of living through that adversity, we’ve had to be creative. We’ve had to think about how we do things and change things. And it gives you an opportunity.

“What are we chasing? We’re not chasing a rating. We’re chasing the fact that children and families get the right support. That doesn’t need a rating, does it really?”

Are you interested in a career with BCP Council’s children’s services?

Check out the latest vacancies or look at its employer profile.