In this session, Katie Rose shared the new blueprint – developed hand-in-hand with social workers and inspired by Buurtzorg – that shows how local authorities can redesign children’s social care service to prioritise relationships between social workers and children and families.
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More information and resources from the webinar
Too many things get in the way of social workers’ ability to do their best work with families. They work in a bureaucratic environment, with excessive layers of management, oversight and process (‘too many eyes, not enough hands’), that has created a command-and-control culture which limits the positive impact they can make on a family’s life. They typically spend 29 hours a week on paperwork or at their PCs. The last 10 years have been book-ended by different governments trying different approaches but significant impact has yet to be made.
Last year, the Centre for Public Impact UK teamed up with Frontline, a social work charity, and Buurtzorg Britain & Ireland – a branch of the social enterprise that has revolutionised healthcare in the Netherlands through its self-managed teams approach – to work with over 80 professionals from the children’s social care sector to try and find a different way through these systemic issues.
A blueprint was created, showing how any local authority can redesign its children’s social care system in a way that increases the time social workers can spend with families and empower them to be able to make meaningful decisions for the children they work with. Blueprint co-author Katie will share how the new system can be implemented at no additional cost to the local authority, and in accordance to all existing regulation and legislation.
What the blueprint represents however is not just a restructure, but a culture change in the way systems see and treat professionals, that is based on trust. The blueprint has gained significant traction in the UK, featured in The Times and The Guardian as potentially ‘the biggest shake-up in social work practice in a generation’, and with the UK government, featured on the civil service world podcast and sparking interest in piloting in 2020 from the Department for Education.
Join this Zoom call to understand more about how the blueprint was created, what it proposes and the debate it has generated since launch.
* Read ‘A Blueprint for Children’s Social Care – unlocking the potential of social work’.
* This Zoom call is organised by the Q community’s Reimagining Health & Care group (all welcome to join). It is part of a series.
Upcoming Zooms in this series:
‘Using Communities of Practice and Self-Management to transform Special Educational Needs and Disability’ – Neil Dunford (17 March, 12.30)
Neil Dunford will share how he has used Communities of Practice and self-managed organisation techniques – such as Liberating Structures, Holacracy, Sociocracy, Deliberately Developmental practice – to transform trust and collaboration in Tower Hamlets.
‘Neighbourhood Midwives: The model that boosted continuity of care by 500%’- Annie Francis (1pm-2pm, 22 April 2020)
Learn about the Buurtzorg-inspired model of care enabling self-managing teams of midwives to deliver continuity of care on their own terms.
‘We know New Public Management fails but what else can we do?‘ – Toby Lowe and Gary Wallace (21st May, 1.15pm)
Is there a better way than management by targets? Toby Lowe and Gary Wallace share the pioneering Human Learning Systems approach of Plymouth’s Health & Care system.
The first in the series was ‘Buurtzorg in the UK: learnings – and challenges – from the first 3 years’ – with Brendan Martin (14th Jan; webpage includes video and presentation).
Bio
Katie Rose is one of the lead authors of the blueprint and is a Programme Manager at the Centre for Public Impact UK.
About CPI UK
The Centre for Public Impact UK (CPI UK) is a not-for-profit that helps government and public sector organisations to prepare for the complex challenges they face. We help their systems and cultures adapt so that human relationships matter, so that power is shared and decisions are made closer to those impacted, with those impacted.
We do this through our research and fieldwork guiding organisations through the change, through our learning programmes for changemakers that develop their confidence to act and by helping governments to listen better by facilitating new dialogues, especially with those who feel unheard or undervalued. We champion those who advance the world and draw insights from our worldwide network, including from our founders, Boston Consulting Group, and others paving the way for positive change.