Helen Lincoln, executive director of children and families at Essex council, talks to Community Care about the ‘outstanding’ judgment the service recently received from Ofsted.

The council was praised by Ofsted for its management of out of area placements, its work within gang intervention as an emerging challenge and its investment in its workforce, resulting in low agency staffing levels and manageable caseloads.

Lincoln explains how the council’s children’s services has taken advantage of a stable senior leadership to develop a well-established structure, and how the relationship-based practice model, deemed “fully embedded” by Ofsted, has supported the council’s direction of travel.

The full list of questions, posed by Community Care associate editor Sarah Dennis, is:

1)What was Essex council’s experience of the Ofsted inspection process and do you feel that the report adequately reflects the findings and the core highlights of improvement at the council?

2)How were staff kept informed throughout the inspection process and told of the findings?

3)Can you give some examples of what Ofsted deemed the sensitive direct work that Ofsted saw within both the child protection and children in care teams?

4)Can you tell us more about the practice model at the council that Ofsted has deemed both effective and innovative and why this was the direction of travel in social work practice within the service?

5)How is the council succeeding in the management of out of area placements and the ability of social workers to provide the support to service users that Ofsted credits?

6)Can you tell us more about the development of the gang intervention teams – what is the purpose and what impact is it having on this area of practice? How are social workers involved within the teams?

7)How has the senior leadership managed and maintained a strong knowledge base and understanding of the strengths and challenges of the service?

8)What would you say are the particular strengths of the leadership team and indeed wider social work managers and how do you feel this has benefited social workers on the front-line?

9)What is the average caseload at the council and how is it managing to keep these low so, as Ofsted says, social workers are given the time and space to build meaningful relationships with children and families?

10)What’s next for Essex council’s children’s services?