Our first task in this piece of work was to evaluate the current operation of the front door service and to recommend any immediate and longer-term changes. The recommendations – some of them quite far reaching – were accepted by senior managers. Our guiding principles for this work were to reduce unnecessary elements and processes…
Management Mentoring Programme
INGSON Ltd were requested by the DCS to provide first and second line managers with a programme of individual mentoring to strengthen and improve management practice. Through the programme, all participating managers demonstrated their commitment to improving practice, particularly in the light of a recent Ofsted inspection. Several managers have also usefully identified their own…
Delivery of a Management Development Programme
INGSON Ltd were successful in a competitive tendering process to provide a programme of management development events to managers working in children’s services in this Council. These events use a variety of exercises including a problem-solving exercise, a presentation and a role play tackling a performance issue to assess management competence and develop and build…
A Review of Practice and Management within Child in Need Services
Work for this Council involved a review of child in need practice and processes to ensure that work was purposeful, focused and directed towards specific outcomes and the avoidance of drift and delay. We made a series of recommendations concerning professional and management practice (which included enhanced supervisory practice) which have been warmly welcomed and…
Assistance with Collaborative Audit Processes
We have advised and assisted managers and practitioners at this County Council over the past three years to develop and deepen their internal file audit processes. This has overseen a transformation from a ‘tick box’ single auditor model to a fully inclusive and collaborative process involving auditors completing file evaluations sitting alongside social workers and…
Consultancy Support to Children’s Services
This work was commissioned by the senior management team and has consisted of a number of strands. These have included diagnostic reviews of practice in specific areas such as the children with disabilities service and also in the management of neglect cases following criticism in serious case reviews. We have additionally worked with a group…
Diagnostic Review of Children’s Services
INGSON Ltd were approached to undertake a full diagnostic review of children’s social care practice and processes in this Council. This involved a review of all practice concerning contacts, assessments, child protection enquiries and care planning for all children receiving a service. We also made an evaluation of management capacity and practice as a part…
Review of Children’s Services
This work involved comprehensive reviews of several areas of children’s services in this Council. These have included the referral and assessment service, children in need and child protection services, the children in care service, level 2 services for vulnerable children and the operation of the new triage arrangement. We have conducted these reviews using a…
Post-OFSTED support
After two adverse OFSTED inspections in 2013, the new management team at this Council sought the long-term support of INGSON Ltd in several areas. These included a root and branch review and reform of the electronic (CareFirst) recording exemplars for social work staff to ensure that these tools were fit for professional practice. This has…