Children's Services Commissioner

Tender description

The Department for Education (DfE) is responsible for supporting improvement in local authorities, through government intervention in response to failure or weakness in the provision of children's social care services. This is done in part through drawing down external expertise, from various sectors, to support local authorities in these circumstances. Where Ofsted finds systemic or persistent failure by a local authority to provide adequate children's services, the Department initiates steps to secure improvement, with a presumption that this will best be achieved by removing the service from council control. An independent Children's Services Commissioner is appointed by the Secretary of State for Education to test this presumption, reporting to Ministers on their findings within 3 months. The Department now wishes to appoint a Commissioner to undertake such a review in Worcestershire County Council. The Commissioner will play a high profile role in a challenging political and delivery environment. They will bring their extensive and proven skills in children's social care transformation to delivering a robust assessment as to how improvements to services for the most vulnerable children can best be secured within the local context. In doing so they will set expectations for how services can best be delivered outside of council control, leading and brokering relationships with senior council leaders and their partner organisations. Alongside this, they will direct work to secure urgent improvements to ensure that children in the Authority are safe.