Client: Slough Borough Council and Slough Children’s Trust
Date: April 2019 – July 2019
Challenges faced by the client: Slough Children’s Trust was created in 2015 in response to a direction from the Secretary of State for Education, since then the Service had improved from Inadequate and was now judged as Requires Improvement to be Good.
Following the latest Ofsted judgment, Slough Borough Council and Slough Children’s Trust agreed to work together to explore the options for the future delivery of children’s services in Slough. Both parties have agreed to seek a way forward that provides a strong basis for continued improvement in outcomes for children and families, and develop a proposal for submission to the Secretary of State for Education in September 2019.
Furthermore, each next step for the Council and the Trust required the resolution of complicated technical challenges – ranging from budgets, pension arrangements and the opinion of the Department for Education whilst the Service remained under direction.
Support offered: Slough Borough Council and Slough Children’s Trust jointly appointed Mutual Ventures and Bevan Brittan LLP to conduct an Options Appraisal of future delivery model options for Slough Children’s Services. Mutual Ventures and Bevan Brittan LLP were required to bring our expert knowledge of children’s trusts and navigate each organisation towards a consensus decision for review by the Secretary of State.
During the review we:
Developed detailed descriptions for the five delivery model options and a set of assessment criteria to test the desirability, viability and feasibility of each model in Slough.
Assessed the desirability, viability and feasibility of these delivery model options in the Slough context.
Considered the legal and technical issues in each delivery model.
Identified the next steps that need to be taken to successfully implement any delivery model in Slough.
Throughout, Mutual Ventures chaired workshops aimed at resolving technical concerns and developing a consensus around the forward plan for children’s services.
Outcome achieved: Support from Mutual Ventures and Bevan Brittan LLP helped Slough Borough Council and Slough Children’s Trust to reach a broad consensus about the future of children’s services in Slough and a clear understanding of the best approach to resolve the significant technical issues that will affect the Service, regardless of the delivery model going forward.
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