There have been worse times for those stepping into the role of president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS). Last year the new Government moved at speed to include a Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill in the King's Speech – legislation now having its second reading in the Lords.
Speaking to The MJ ahead of her inauguration as president this week, Rachael Wardell praises the work done by outgoing ADCS president Andy Smith to forge a connection with the new Government. ‘He's had to do all that work of building relationships with the new ministerial team, which he has done brilliantly. He's continued to advocate for what directors of children's services (DCSs) would like to see for children, for families, for learners, and to carry some good work on seamlessly into this new era.
Child poverty is one of her priority areas for the presidential year. ‘I think we would say that a lot of the presenting difficulties that we see in children's social care take hold in families that are facing poverty and disadvantage.'
‘So I've watched him in awe as he's managed that change, because it was obviously very significant and important for us, and he's dealt with that superbly smoothly.'
This new dawn also includes a massive reorganisation of two-tier local government areas, a process Wardell, who is executive director for children, families and lifelong learning for Surrey CC, is part of with her team. Surrey CC is set to put forward its final reorganisation proposal to Government by 9 May and is preferring a two unitary option.
While she says ADCS will not have a view overall about what the right reorganisation solution should be for each local authority area, she is clear ‘unitarisation overall is a benefit'. The separation in two-tier authorities between functions including housing, revenue and benefits and community safety has a ‘really important bearing on the well-being of our families', she says.
‘If all of that functionality is brought together, ‘you can work in a really close internal partnership in a way that makes things better for children', she believes.
The County Councils Network (CCN) said last month that the annual recurring cost of splitting up and duplicating [disaggregating] county council social care services into multiple new authorities could reach more than £500m. Wardell says disaggregation could cause turbulence. ‘Disaggregation is harder because it will involve splitting some functions potentially, and that obviously needs to be done delicately, and it can be a sort of disruption to some of the other work that you're doing.'
She says DCSs in authorities going through reorganisation, are ‘listening carefully to colleagues who've gone before us'.
‘There are authorities which have done the disaggregation. So if you look at Northamptonshire, which does have a children's trust model, and if you look at Cumbria, which doesn't, and listen carefully to what their leaders have to say about the pros and cons of each, I think it is too soon to say you know what the best outcome might be for any individual area. But that that thoughtfulness and seeing what we can learn from what's gone before is important in this phase.'
Child poverty is one of her priority areas for the presidential year. ‘I think we would say that a lot of the presenting difficulties that we see in children's social care take hold in families that are facing poverty and disadvantage.' She says families with young children are a more diverse group than the population as a whole – and that the ADCS must respond to this diversity in its own case work, ‘but also for example in the youth justice system'.
ADCS will continue to advocate for a coherent cross government focus on children. ‘The Department for Education obviously has children clearly within its remit. But we would argue that's just as important in the Department of Health and Social Care and in the Home Office and in the Ministry of Justice and so forth.' As a long-serving chair of the ADCS workforce policy committee, workforce will also be a lobbying priority.
While she emphasises that the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill currently going through its Lords stage is bringing long awaited reforms, ‘what is not yet working its way through the system is around education for children with additional needs and disabilities'.
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) costs are an existential issue for councils given the scale of the deficits problem in councils. In the latest of a series of warnings, last month the CCN highlighted that once the statutory override – the ability of councils to keep SEND deficits off their balance sheets – ends in March 2026 18 county and unitary councils will become insolvent overnight. A further six would follow in 2027.
Wardell is adamant the overspend is the result of central government's underfunding of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), and the high needs block of the DSG in particular. 'We would argue that these debts currently on local authority balance sheets shouldn't be there and should be returned to the national balance sheet, because that is where it belongs.'
She argues passionately that ‘it makes more sense to get upstream and to see that families have secure incomes and secure housing, and that schools are sufficiently funded, for example, to support children with additional means in mainstream [education] where possible'.
As she takes over as president, does she have some grounds for optimism for the future of children's services and outcomes for children and families? ‘Genuinely every day I see rays of hope all around. I see not just social workers but alternatively qualified practitioners doing really lovely work.'
She concludes: ‘There are lots of examples of health and local authorities working in partnership in the interests of children and young people, even though both kinds of organisations face real financial difficulties. I think we will never lose sight of children and their families, and that should give us all hope.'
