Doncaster pays consultants £1.8m to turn around child services

Doncaster Council has appointed consultancy imPOWER to work with the department which has been the subject of direct oversight by the Government since it was deemed to be failing in 2009.

New figures show that in the last financial year the authority spent £4.2 million on agency staff as it tried to cope with the number of children needing its help and struggled to attract staff to fill vacant jobs.

The authority recently recruited, via an agency, an interim director of children’s services, Eleanor Brazil, who will work four days a week at a cost of £1,000 per day, a figure which will now form part of the imPOWER contract.

Ms Brazil will work with imPOWER over the next two years, after which the council will appoint a permanent director.

Deputy executive mayor councillor Glyn Jones said: “This is an important milestone for the council and its children’s services.

“Doncaster is taking an ambitious and exciting step in forming this partnership to improve how we provide vital services to young people and families in the borough.

“Safeguarding our young people is our number one priority and this new public/private partnership between the council and iMPOWER will help drive through the improvements we need at the speed we need them.

“We are fully committed to this new direction and look forward to working closely with our new partner to help make it happen.”

In appointing imPOWER, Doncaster becomes one of only two authorities in the country to work with an outside organisation on children’s services in this way.

Council chief executive Jo Miller said: “We recognise the challenges that all councils face with their children’s services and we are set to lead the way in how these services can be delivered in the future. We plan to do something differently which will reform the service.

“We also intend to help establish a culture of learning across local authorities by sharing new best practice. This new approach will benefit our staff and protect and enrich the lives of our young people.”

The authority is currently waiting to hear the outcome of a report ordered earlier this year by Education Secretary Michael Gove into the future of children’s services in Doncaster with options on the table including responsibility going to an “independent organisation”.

Professor Julian Le Grand from the London School of Economics led the review and his report is understood to have already been submitted to the Government.

The council hopes imPOWER will bring expertise but also additional manpower to the department.

The long-running problems have made it difficult for the council to recruit and retain staff with close to a third of jobs connected to safeguarding children vacant.

A recent council report considering its progress against key goals rated its performance towards the target “children are safe” as “red”.

imPOWER, which runs children’s services for an authority in the West Midlands, was one of three organisations to make bids for the work.

Chief executive Martin Cresswell said: “We are delighted to have been selected by Doncaster Council to be their children’s services transformation partner.

“We are committed to working with staff, councillors, and partners to deliver lasting improvement for the children and families of Doncaster, and will base a dedicated team of skilled professionals in Doncaster to embed change and facilitate learning across local government.”

The Government first intervened in Doncaster’s children’s services department in 2009 following the death of seven children in five years.

It was further criticised in a report by Ofsted last year which described arrangements for keeping children safe in the district as “inadequate”.