Council spotlight
Council Spotlight As changes take place at Northamptonshire County Council, there is lots to be excited about. We spoke to Cathi Hadley, Director of Children’s Services, about their improvement journey.
You became the Director of Children’s Services in Northamptonshire in October 2019. What do you enjoy most about the role?
on board. They bring a huge amount of children’s
complex needs and mentoring will be provided to
social work experience as well as common sense and
team members, as a step up for more experienced
pragmatism. With their support, we are pleased to be
social workers. At the next level, we have advanced
seeing green shoots of improvement, which Ofsted
practitioner posts who will provide consultation to team
confirmed in their previous visit. Our improvements
members as well as holding a small caseload to keep
I am really proud of my job role. Northamptonshire
have included ensuring all our children who require
in touch with families. Both of these roles enable social
truly is a great place to work; I love hearing good news
social care intervention have an allocated worker, which
workers to gain the practice and leadership experience
stories from my team and the praise they have received
had previously been an issue for us.
needed to become a team manager.
from the families they have helped. One of our newly
We’re heading towards becoming a children’s trust in
To increase placements for children, we are developing
qualified social workers received a handmade present
2020 and have appointed Ian Curryer as Chair and
specialist in-house foster carers to support children
from a family – a jar with fairy lights inside and each
James Thomas as Interim Chief Executive. In 2021,
with more complex needs and have just opened more
member of the family had written a note saying what
Northamptonshire County Council will become two
residential care provision in the county. We are working
a difference she had made to their lives. Seeing the
new unitary councils and the new Trust will provide the
hard to embed Signs of Safety across all our services.
positive impact we are making makes it all worthwhile.
children’s services for both. We will also be moving to
There’s a lot to be excited about!
Can you tell us about all the changes happening in Northamptonshire?
our new case management system during this time.
We are really benefitting from having Children’s
scheme will be introduced. We will have new senior
You’re currently recruiting permanent staff, what sort of people are you looking for to join the team?
social worker posts to support families with more
Our staff across the service are our biggest asset. We
Commissioners Andrew Christie and Clare Chamberlain
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From April, all of our permanent staff will be receiving a 4% pay rise and our new social work career progression
