Government & Public Sector (G&PS)

Children’s Services

Our Children’s Services team has led efficiency improvements for national and local government, designed the national commissioning approach on behalf of the DCSF, and managed the delivery of real service improvements and best value from Council resources.

Our Children’s Services consultants are recognised as experts and have considerable knowledge of the sector at both an operational and management strategic level. Many of them were once practitioners in their fields having worked in child protection, youth justice, adoption, psychology and social work services on the front line.

The PIPC Children’s Services team provide support in the following core areas:

• Strategic Consulting Advice
• Service Reviews
• Service Re-design
• Joint and Regional Commissioning and Shared Services
• Delivering change through effective Project and Programme Management (PPM)
• Financial Effectiveness
• Interim Management

Strategic Consulting Advice

As well as delivering projects and the government policy agenda in the children, young people and families landscapes, some of our staff also bring international experience to bear on children’s reforms here in the UK. From strategy assessment, conceptual design and planning through to organisational design, performance improvement and financial effectiveness, we have key staff working in the children’s sector who have an enviable track record in advising senior management, both in central and local government. For example, one of our consultants is currently seconded into the DCSF, advising local authorities on design and delivery elements of joint commissioning and planning.

Service Reviews

We have conducted performance reviews and service assessments across the education and children’s services landscape with a view to highlighting areas for improvement, gaps in service delivery / quality and providing the authority with a routemap, the tools and knowledge transfer to enable improvement projects to be implemented. We can also advise and support an authority throughout the implementation phase. Our approach is to support and transfer our knowledge to your staff, ensuring that you get best value out of your existing resources, even after we have gone.

Largely our staff have conducted such reviews with a view to identifying efficiencies and value for money benefit areas. These staff have previously worked in numerous local authority Education and Children’s Services departments such as: Salford City Council, Northamptonshire County Council, LB Ealing, Cheshire County Council, Peterborough City Council, Blackpool City Council, LB Westminster, LB Southwark, and Norfolk County Council. Furthermore, some of our staff bring international good practice experience in child protection, youth justice, parenting support and early intervention and prevention.

Service Re-design

The organisational context of local authority children’s services departments is critical given the massive policy implementation agenda set by the DCSF. Your ability to deliver a range of initiatives under the ECM umbrella should be maximized wherever possible. Our staff have reviewed LA children’s services and made recommendations focusing on business process improvement, performance improvement and the integration of service models where this will assist an authority to meet the ECM package of outcomes for children. Our focus is on assisting the authority to deliver excellent service standards while delivering efficiencies and value for money services.

Joint and Regional Commissioning and Shared Services

PIPC has specialists in commissioning, joint and regional commissioning and in addition, shared services. Our consultants have worked in over 20 authorities developing good practice case studies on commissioning practice in children’s services for the DCSF and have advised the DCSF on commissioning approaches in the lead up to the release of the Children in Care Green Paper in 2006 (specifically in relation to recommendations regarding regional commissioning).

We have experience in facilitating partnership working, including designing appropriate governance, and stakeholder management strategies together with embedding pragmatic project management solutions to enable authorities to deliver sustained benefits through Children’s Trust / Partnership Boards.

Please feel free to download PIPC’s whole systems approach to commissioning here.

Delivering change through effective Project and Programme Management (PPM) in Children’s Services

Where authorities or departments are considering change or implementation programmes we can advise and support you during concept, design and set up together with roll out and outcomes realisation. We are experts in business led PPM and have significant experience of working in the central and local government space, particularly in schools, children’s and adult’s services and in partnership working. We can provide you with fit-for-purpose and tailored PPM and change solutions, giving you the re-assurance that your programme will deliver.

PIPC has internationally recognised tools, methodologies and techniques and we are able to provide you with everything from embedding a project management culture within your service, through to delivering a major change programme on your behalf. In line with best practice as defined by OGC, we underpin our programmes with the pragmatic (and not slavish) application of recognised methodologies such as MSP and Prince2.

Financial Effectiveness

We also employ consultants who are specialists in financial management in government, together with experience and knowledge from the private sector. From benchmarking your spend against our knowledge of performance in other authorities through to advising and supporting councils to implement more efficient business & financial processes, PIPC are able to ensure you are effectively positioned in terms of investment and operational budget allocation to deliver the services your clients expect.

Interim Management

PIPC has access to a considerable associate pool who are known as specialists within the children’s services arena. These individuals have previously been head teachers, local authority service managers, Directors or Assistant Directors and also experts with specific specialisms in education and children’s social services. We are able to source for you the right candidate for interim positions and in parallel provide the client with the backing of PIPC skill and expertise in children’s services, local government and specifically the right balance of project and programme management to support the interim officer to deliver the required outcomes.