Purpose

Establishing a project team to lead on the
transformation required to deliver the children's social care
reforms

Decision

1.    
To establish a project team to lead on the transformation required
to deliver the children’s social care reforms, at a total
cost of approximately £572,294.12 over the financial years
2025-26 and 2026-27.
 
 

Reasons for the decision

1.    
The children’s
social reforms announced by the DfE in Nov/Dec 2024 build on the
National Framework for Children’s Social Care and their
implementation will require whole-system transformation.
 
2.    
Further guidance is due to be released, however it
is expected that reforms should start to be implemented from April
2025 and with the aim of MACPTs being in place by 2027.
 
3.    
Additional funding for these reforms will be provided through a new
Children’s Services Prevention Grant, with H&F due to
receive £900,474 in 2025/26.
 
4.    
This paper is to approve resource for 2026/27 on the assumption of
continued funding.
 
5.    
Given the scale of the reforms, a dedicated project team will need
to be established to lead on the transformation work. This team
will sit within Children and Young People’s Service and will
include the following:
·      
1 x PO5 (from April 2025)
·      
1 x PO4 (from September 2025)
·      
1 x 0.5FTE PO6 (from April 2025) – from
Commissioning
·      
1 x 0.5FTE PO6 (from April 2025) – IT project
management
·      
Uplift Grade F to Grade E – Head of Service
with additional responsibility for transformation
 
The project team outlined is a proposal based
on maximum costs; actual costs may vary
and resource may be flexed differently depending on the
project’s demands.
 

Alternative options considered

Option 1 – do nothing (not recommended)
 
Option 2 – establish a smaller team or singular role (not
recommended)
 
Option 3 – establish the project team set out
(recommended)