Addressing the challenges of leading children's services in England: leadership in a changing environment
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17466661211238655 |
| Published date | 15 June 2012 |
| Date | 15 June 2012 |
| Pages | 86-100 |
| Author | Martin E. Purcell,Margaret Christian,Nick Frost |
| Subject Matter | Education,Health & social care,Sociology |
Addressing the challenges of leading
children’s services in England:
leadership in a changing environment
Martin E. Purcell, Margaret Christian and Nick Frost
Abstract
Purpose – Following the passage of the Children Act, 2004, the leadership of children’s services in
England has been unified through the appointment of Directors of Children’s Services. The role is
demanding as it requires leading a range of services in each local authority, which are often subject to a
high degree of public and political scrutiny.The change of government in May 2010 shifted the nature of
these challenges by reforming the guidance to local authorities and by placing restrictions on local
authority expenditure. This paper aims to explore the skills required by leaders in this complex and
changing environment.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on the findings of a scoping study conducted for
the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Servicesand describes and analyses the
skills and capabilities required by leaders of children’s services in England.
Findings – The paper offers a view of what might constitute ‘‘effective’’ leadership, and the skills
needed to meet the requirements of improving the lives of children and young people.
Originality/value – The paper offers an analysis of the way in which interventions to enhance leadership
in this area might contribute to better outcomes for children and youngpeople in the future in an era of
significant change following the formation of the UK Coalition government in May 2010.
Keywords Children’s services, Leadership, Public sector management, Safeguarding,
Children (age groups), United Kingdom, Social care
Paper type General review
Introduction
The Children Act, 2004 (DfES, 2004), enacted in the aftermath of the death of Victoria Climbie
´,
created a new leadership role in English children’sservices (Frost and Parton, 2009). Having
chaired the inquiry into Victoria’sdeath, Lord Laming (2003), former Chief Inspector of Social
Services, was clearly dismayed at the lack of accountability displayed by senior managers of
the key services. The result was a strong accountability model where the newly formed role of
Director of Children’sServices (DCS) was to be directly accountable for services in their area,
alongside a political Lead Member for Children’s Services (LMCS).
This model ensured there was no ‘‘hiding place’ ’ – accountability clearly lay at the door of
this leadership pairing. They had a legal responsibility for building ‘‘Children’s Trusts
arrangements’’ in their local authority areas and would as a result be accountable for
performance in their locality. The implications of this were felt in their full force by Sharon
Shoesmith, dismissed as DCS for Haringey in the aftermath of the death of ‘‘Baby Peter’ ’
(who died having lived his short life in Haringey, the same London Borough as Victoria). The
leadership role was demanding as the Directors led multi-professional systems and often
had to work through influencing, rather than having direct control over, a complex network of
organisations. They were asked to ensure children were safeguarded, but were also allowed
to achieve their full potential in education, play and leisure.
PAGE 86
j
JOURNAL OF CHILDREN’S SERVICES
j
VOL. 7 NO. 2 2012, pp. 86-100, QEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-6660 DOI 10.1108/17466661211238655
Martin E. Purcell is based in
the School of Education,
University of Manchester,
Manchester, UK.
Margaret Christian is based
in the School of Education
and Childhood, and Nick
Frost is based in the Faculty
of Health and Social
Sciences, both at Leeds
Metropolitan University,
Leeds, UK.
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