Agency social work reforms “starting to bear fruit”, new ADCS President says

The incoming President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) says children’s services has “rocketed up the national agenda” in the last 12 months.

Rachell Wardell, who formally took up the role at the event in London last week, warned that the scale of change is “unprecedented” and both “exciting and unnerving” in that it could destabilise services without the right conditions for success: stable leadership, workforce continuity, clear priorities, and time to embed change.

Referencing the underway children’s social care reform, the programme of reform around SEND, and among numerous other shake-ups in children’s policy, Ms Wardell said the changes were “very welcome and long overdue”.

“We will certainly be making the case to really centre the needs of children at the heart of future arrangements right across the public sector. But such large-scale change, across virtually every aspect of our world, doesn’t come without risks and we must guard against all this leading to destabilisation.”

The Surrey County Council DCS also called for a ‘child first approach’ to national policy-making, saying children and families continue to face significant and growing challenges – particularly with regards to poverty.

“The foundations for a secure childhood – a safe, warm and – yes - stable home, financial security and good health, both physical and mental – are no longer present for too many children growing up in this country. That one in three children now live in poverty should shame us all.”

As ever, workforce issues remained critical. Wardell said that, while progress has been made tackling over-reliance on agency social work, recruitment and retention problems persist across professions. She advocated for smarter regulation and systemic support for a valued, sustainable local government workforce.

“We have come a long way over the last 18 months or so with a focus on agency social work and this is starting to bear fruit if the recent social work statistics are anything to go by,” Ms Wardell said.

“ADCS would welcome getting ahead of the curve by exploring how the regulation making power contained in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill could be used in other shortage occupation areas to close the loophole and avoid the over-reliance on expensive temporary arrangements.”

On early childhood, she criticised the narrow focus on childcare over development and raised concerns about rising numbers of children not ready for school. Parental mental health has now overtaken domestic abuse as the most common factor in children’s social care assessments. She urged a holistic, inclusive support system, cautioning against inappropriate use of statutory SEND plans for very young children.

SEND reform, Wardell stressed, must go beyond system tweaks and build an inclusive education system with mainstream education as the default. She warned that financial pressures threaten council sustainability, and the end of the statutory override adds urgency.

The inaugural speech paid tribute to predecessors in the ADCS, thanking Past Presidents Andy Smith and John Pearce, but also a heartfelt reflection on the life and career of Dave Hill, the Surrey County Council DCS who died suddenly in 2020.

“I’ve been thinking about Dave more than usual in recent days and weeks as I’ve followed in his footsteps more than twice. I took over from Dave as the Chair of the ADCS Workforce Development Policy Committee in 2015 when he was elected as ADCS Vice President; I became a Trustee at Become - the charity for children in care and care leavers - when he stood down on his move to Surrey. And now I step into the Presidential role he held almost a decade ago.

“It’s strange how these things happen but in each of these roles, Dave helped to lay the foundations for many, not just me, to thrive.

“As President, Dave had an unwavering focus on the need for the care system to secure loving relationships that last. As strange as it may sound now, back in 2016, we didn’t often talk about relationships when we talked about policy, and we almost never talked publicly about love in the same breath. But over time, and partly because of Dave, love is now part of our everyday language and indeed is embedded in policy via Stable homes built on love. This is a great example of how shared personal values can change policy and practice over time.”

Ending with a quote from Michael Rosen’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, the President underscored the need to face challenges head-on: “We can’t go over it. We can’t go under it… we’ve got to go through it.”