Cheshire East ‘may struggle’ to recruit new children’s services boss

Several councillors have told the Local Democracy Reporting Service they fear potential candidates may be put off, not just by the 'inadequate' rating but also the fact the council is £80m overspent on its (DSG) special needs budget.

Cheshire East is not alone in this overspend as many councils across the country are facing huge debts in this particular area.

The cost of finding a new children's services boss will be piled on if the council uses an expensive recruitment agency, which it usually does for its top jobs.

This will be an additional financial burden on the cash-strapped council, which recently received a stark warning from the Local Government Association (LGA) it is facing effective bankruptcy unless it cuts its spending.

Last night Cheshire East issued a statement confirming the resignation of Deborah Woodcock and thanking her for her services.

Deborah Woodcock (Image: Cheshire East Council)

A council spokesperson said: “We would like to thank Deborah for her leadership in children’s services and steering the improvement journey to this stage.

“Deborah is a valued and respected member of the corporate leadership team and will be missed.

“She has been a committed champion of children and leaves in place an integrated structure to better meet children’s needs and the council’s challenging financial context, and ambitious colleagues who will continue the important work across children’s services.

He added: “The council will now begin the process of recruiting a new executive director for children’s services.

“Deborah will remain in this key leadership post until the end of July and, on behalf of the corporate leadership team and the wider organisation, we wish her every success for the future.”

Cllr Sam Corcoran (Image: Cheshire East Council)

Former council leader Cllr Sam Corcoran (Lab) also thanked the outgoing children’s services boss.

He posted on X - formerly Twitter: “I am sad to see Deborah Woodcock, the director of children’s services, leave Cheshire East Council.

“The Ofsted report was disappointing, but the improvement plan drawn up in response is a good document. It was approved at council last week and I thank Deborah for all her work.”

The council has budgeted for £2m to fund the improvement plan, although the Conservatives argue this could cost anything up to £15m, going on experience from other local authorities with inadequate Ofsted ratings,

Last month, at a meeting of the council’s children and families committee, Ms Woodcock said she should have known ‘things were not as good as they needed to be’.

Deputy chair Emma Gilman (Macclesfield, Ind) had questioned her about Ofsted’s finding that ‘senior leaders had not recognised, until this inspection, the extent of improvement required in services for care leavers’.

Ms Woodcock had replied:  “As a leader of our system, I should have known that things were not as good as they needed to be.”

Cheshire East's children's services was judged to be ‘inadequate’ overall after Ofsted found the experiences and progress of care leavers to be inadequate.

And while the inspectors did acknowledge there had been some improvement since the last inspection, all other areas assessed were judged to ‘require improvement to be good’.