Wigan town hall staff looking to make 'a real difference' to children

Wigan Council has been chosen as a partner for the new What Works Centre For Children’s Social Care, which has been set up by the Department For Education to identify and share best practice.

The national centre aims to help councils take an evidence-based approach to the decisions they make about social care services for children and families.

They will look at the work being done by Wigan Council in children’s social care to see what could be used by other councils around the country.

Coun Jenny Bullen, the council’s cabinet member for children and young people’s services, said: “We’re delighted that our approach to transforming children’s services through The Deal has been recognised and we’ve been invited to become a first wave partner to the centre.

“We’re looking forward to collaborating with partners to improve services and ultimately make a real difference to the lives of children and young people.”

The centre has named 21 local authorities and trusts that it will work with until December to create a more evidence-based approach.

Sir Alan Wood, founding chairman of the centre, said: “We are delighted that local authorities and trusts have shown such a high level of interest in working with the centre. We know that to be effective, the centre needs to remain close to the ground. These initial partnerships will help and support local leaders and practitioners to ensure that we most effectively meet the needs of children and families.

“They are not pilot sites. They are partners who will explore, co-design and test promising ideas rapidly with us. That includes ideas for our future products and services to help expand the use of evidence such as online evidence, peer-to-peer networking and self-evaluation toolkits. And it includes developing insights into the kinds of interventions already being used and exploring new ideas that could be tested and evaluated in more depth.”