Wakefield MDC

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.

From considerable workforce capacity issues and practice deficits, plus delays in meeting children’s needs, to an integrated, ambitious, and child-focused service – that’s the story of Wakefield’s children and young people’s services. No surprise then that having been rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in 2018, in 2021 it was rated ‘good’ with ‘outstanding’ leadership – an incredible transformation. Regular consultation and a systematic approach were a feature of the transformation and remain critical to continued improvement. Significant investment in more staff, relationships with partners, and a new learning academy

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.