Telford & Wrekin Council

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a partnership of councils, or a council-owned company. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself. Children’s services are very much under pressure, and ever more so in the face of challenges facing families and services since Covid-19 hit, adding to the numbers of potentially vulnerable children. There is an imperative to protect vulnerable children, the importance of early intervention and the changing relationship with schools – all under an intense media and now social spotlight. This award is intended to recognise the success of those councils that adopt a genuinely strategic approach to this vital service area in the face of extraordinary challenges, potentially including the Covid response. Entries can focus either on a specific aspect of the council’s work on children’s services or the entirety of its work on children’s services.

In just four years, children’s services in Telford & Wrekin have gone from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘outstanding’. Our story is of transformational change that’s created an environment where staff are empowered, interventions are evidence-led and families receive intensive support. It has led to dramatic improvement in outcomes for children and young people. The council’s team – described as ‘national trailblazers’ for the way they support care leavers – is now a Department for Education sector-led improvement partner, advising fellow professionals at local authorities across the country on a number of aspects of children’s social care.

Attenti Consulting is a specialist consultancy delivering bespoke sustainable solutions to a wide range of health and social care clients. Our work is centred around taking a positive approach to connecting strategic goals with operational practice; improving the quality of outcomes for service users whilst reducing demand pressures by embedding consistent delivery and enhancing the efficiency of services. With a passion to promote best practice across the sector, Attenti also facilitates webinars, commissions research and white papers and hosts events to encourage shared learning and sector-led improvement.