Hartlepool Borough Council’s departing executive director of children’s and joint commissioning services, Sally Robinson, kindly agreed to write a final blog post before moving on to her new role. Sally has been a valued and influential member of our North East ADCS network over the years and was recently awarded a CBE in the King’s Birthday Honours.
June 2025
As I move on from the DCS role in Hartlepool and leave behind the most fantastic team this made me think about the children’s workforce and how we should best take care of our most precious asset.
Over many years I have been privileged to work with the varied professionals who make up the children’s services workforce. Their hard work, commitment and willingness to do whatever it takes to help and support children and young people is palpable throughout their work and it is vital that as systems leaders we fulfil our role to take care of them. It is beholden on leaders to make sure that our workforce is as well as it can, that we take time to consider their needs and do whatever we can to make sure that they are supported and fully equipped to undertake the challenging work we ask of them. If we put our own oxygen masks on first then we are better able to help the children who need our support.
In Hartlepool, we recognise the value of taking care of the workforce, our relationship based practice model is replicated in our organisation where staff are cared for and cared about. The value of relationships between senior leaders and the workforce cannot be underestimated. Staff invest in leaders, they look to them for direction, support and confidence that they are valued, trusted and respected. If the right conditions prevail, the workforce will flourish despite the challenging work they undertake, they will remain loyal to the organisation and staff turnover will be low.
Recently the North East ADCS renewed its Memorandum of Understanding for agency social workers to regulate pay rates, promote stability and work collaboratively across the 12 local authorities to sustain consistency. Working in accordance with the MoU will support the whole region’s workforce and encourage the recruitment of permanent staff. Once this is secured, local authorities need to invest in their workforce and create opportunities for development. The regional ADCS Workforce Group is doing some great work in developing programmes for those stepping into systems leadership, aspiring leaders and managers and coaching for senior managers. All of these create opportunities for professional development and the space and time for staff to learn, develop and reflect.
Whilst great work continues at a regional level, at a local level leaders and managers need to work hard to make their organisation an attractive place to work where the workforce feels valued, recognised and has a sense of purpose and belonging. Investment in workforce wellbeing is money well spent to make sure that practitioners have all the support they need to respond to the needs of children and young people.
As I move on, I leave Hartlepool with the best team anyone could hope to work with and pass on the baton to the new incoming DCS with the message to take great care of Hartlepool’s most valuable asset.