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Workforce Reform

What is Workforce Reform?

The workforce are staff and volunteers who work with children, young people and families and reform is concerned with a change for the better and for improvements.

Workforce reform came about as a result of the government inquiry in to the death of Victoria Climbié, the little girl who died in London after being subject to abuse and neglect. The inquiry aimed to find out how come so many professionals had contact with the Family and yet this little girl still managed to tragically fall ‘through the net’. Lord Laming undertook this inquiry, the result being a government policy response called Every Child Matters, followed by Youth Matters. The Government's aim in Every Child Matters is for every child, whatever their background or their circumstances, to have the support they need to:

1. Be healthy
2. Stay safe
3. Enjoy and achieve
4. Make a positive contribution
5. Achieve economic well-being

Every Child Matters lays out expectations of all organisations that are involved in providing services to children and young people to help achieve these five outcomes. It says that they must:

  • Team up in new ways to work better together including creating new ways of working across the children’s workforce

  • Ensure that the child’s needs determine the help and support they get, not the needs of organisations

  • Share information about the children they are supporting and their services

  • Plan for services, delivered jointly at local level to see what works best for children and young people

In summary, it was recognised that a skilled workforce, which works in an integrated way and shared information would be key in meeting the needs of children and young people. Integrated working is where everyone supporting children and young people work together effectively to put the child at the centre, meet their needs and improve their lives. The government recognised that this couldn’t happen without support for the development of the workforce and the creation of products and processes for more joined up working. How where they going to do that? – through workforce reform.

Why Workforce Reform? is an information sheet created by NCVYS to explain to leaders and managers why workforce reform has come about and what it is to help them realise why they should take note of this important work.

 

For more information on local Workforce Reform opportunities, visit the e-bulletin.

Last updated on 12/11/08 by Mike Freeman