Birmingham Children’s Trust The Journey so far… National Commissioning Conference 2018

Birmingham’s Size Population: 1,124,569 Very Diverse Birmingham is the largest single tier authority and has largest population of all the English Core Cities Population: 1,124,569 (2016 Mid-Year Estimates ) Population of Core Cities Birmingham 1,124,569 Leeds 761,481 Sheffield 560,085 Manchester 514,417 Liverpool 470,780 Bristol 437,492 Leicester 333,812 Nottingham 310,837 Newcastle upon Tyne 286,821 A genuinely diverse population in terms of wealth, ethnicity and age. A young city. 50% non-white and 30% Muslim 30% FSM Very Diverse

Children’s Services in Birmingham 13 Family Support teams One Front-door for all early help & social work requests for support (CASS) 14 Assessment & short-term intervention teams (ASTI) 20 Safeguarding teams (long-term interventions) 20 Children in Care teams 5 Leaving Care (18+) teams UASC, NRPF, homeless YP, Edge of Care teams 5 Disability teams Youth Offending Service Fostering and Adoption, Placements CP chairs and IROs QA, complaints, RAP, L&D, Commissioning, Performance/data

It’s good to have friends on your improvement journey… “Social problems in the city were now so bad that it compared unfavourably with communist Cuba, and parts of Eastern Europe” “They are a testament to failure of corporate governance on a grand scale – governance that has failed to grasp the nettle over many years and which has relegated our second city to fourth division for children’s services.” “What is shocking is that this is the city council with responsibility for more children than any other, our second city, the largest unitary local authority in the country, the city of Joseph Chamberlain and once the powerhouse of the nation. How did it come to this?” ‘Birmingham is a national disgrace'

The Trust’s establshment May 16 – Birmingham Children’s Trust announcement November 16 – Andrew Christie appointed as Chair; Dave Hill appointed as Commissioner August 17 – I took up post as Chief Executive June-July 17 – Board members appointed 1 April 2018 – new DfE Direction, establishment of the Trust and retention of the Commissioner Trust go live 1 April 2018

So what are we? A wholly owned, Teckal company Commissioned by Birmingham City Council Operationally independent Accountable to an independent board of non-execs £200m revenue budget 1900 staff TUPE transferred into Trust

What we’ve found so far… Real improvements in practice over last 2 years More still to do: ‘Requiring considerable improvement to get to Good’! Energy, enthusiasm, commitment Scepticism, disillusionment, anticipation Support services: bent, broken Partnerships: weak, dysfunctional system

My Values… High Challenge, High Support

This is Us…?

What young people told us…

Our Values? ONE TEAM ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY INNOVATION AND QUALITY RELATIONSHIP-BASED HIGH SUPPORT HIGH CHALLENGE

How we want to work: Practice We want to be: Restorative Strength/asset-based Relationships Systems Thinking (and acting) Reflective supervision People say we are: Respectful Engaged Clear, open, honest Focused on children and on families Working with others to help us

Our Emerging Priorities Workforce Practice and Quality Placements and Commissioning Troubled Young People System/process improvement

Commissioning Strategy Built on Practice Model: strengths-based; collaboration; systemic Working with, and developing the market: mutual interest, common ground Building new relationships; trust-building across sectors, working local as well as regional Leading West Midlands regional residential commissioning project Internal commissioning context Co-creation; co-production

What success will look like… Children, young people and families can describe the positive difference we are making Families supported to care for their children Engaged, positive and effective workforce Super-efficient, high-impact support services: common purpose: all here to ‘make the bike/boat go faster’ Stronger commissioning of services: recycling resources Stronger partnership system and greater Early Help impact Ofsted…?

Wicked Issues Relationship with the Council Changing the Birmingham multi-agency system Workforce Early Help and targeted prevention Throwing off history Making values real

Final Thoughts Making sustainable change in practice and culture takes time and persistence and values – and it doesn’t happen overnight Whole systems and whole organisations: partnership; commitment; honesty. Move away for the ‘problem child narrative’ Consistency, collaboration, shared accountability Great opportunity to sustain and accelerate change and become a beacon of improvement, sustainability and best practice The big existential question for the Trust…