Improvement journey continues for children’s services in Slough

There are some exciting changes ahead for children’s social care in Slough as both Slough Children’s Services Trust and Slough Borough Council reaffirm their commitment to children, young people and families in Slough with the formation of Slough Children First.

Children’s social care in Slough is on a significant improvement journey. From its creation in 2015, the Trust has worked hard to pull children’s social care out of inadequate for the first time in many years.

With that achieved, now is the time for the next phase of the journey. Following discussions with the Department for Education, it was agreed that from 1 April the Trust will become Slough Children First, a company wholly-owned by Slough Borough Council.

This move will enable Slough Children First and the council to work in closer partnership and help deliver an excellent service to children and young people in Slough. As part of the transition, several elements of children’s services currently with the council, including the Early Help Hub and Family Information Services, and services to assist young people into education and employment, will move to Slough Children First. This will allow a much more holistic approach to services.

To help reinforce the partnership between Slough Children First and the Council, the role of chief executive has been combined with the director of children’s services role at the council. This change has been in place for the last few months with an experienced interim brought in to cover the role and effect the changes.

“This is a pivotal moment for children’s social care in Slough. The Trust has made tremendous strides since it was set up and the team has done an incredible job to achieve substantial improvements in services,” said Eleni Ioannides, interim chief executive at Slough Children First. “However we recognise that to take us to the next level we need to work more closely together with the Council, wholly focused on our mutual prize of the best possible services to children and families in Slough. The company will remain operationally independent of the Council, but will be more strategically aligned.”

“This is a milestone moment for us to really bring end to end services to the children of Slough,” said Josie Wragg, chief executive at Slough Borough Council. “Through strong joint working and a collegiate approach, we will make our services for children even better and are aiming to be outstanding. I am hugely excited about the next era and particularly the betterment this will bring for our young people.”