Hackney Council has been selected to join the Government’s Partners in Practice peer support programme to share its excellent children’s social care practice with local authorities nationwide.

The Council is one of eight local authorities selected to join the programme, and has been awarded a share of £15m to help expand support to other children’s care services across the country.

Applicants for the programme were invited to come up with ideas on how they would support other local authorities in developing their social care practice.

Hackney’s bid focussed on further developing training and support for those who wish to implement systemic social work practice - a model of social work that works with the key relationships in a child’s life to promote change - which was introduced in Hackney in the late 2000s as part of the borough’s revolutionary Reclaiming Social Work model.  

The Hackney model of social work pays careful attention to the organisational structures and leadership approaches that need to be in place to support social workers to practice systemically. Advising on how to make sure these are in place will be a key aspect of the support that will be offered to other local authorities.

Minister for Children and Families Nadhim Zahawi said: “Social workers do an incredible job providing some of our most vulnerable children in our society with life-changing care and support. This investment for our Partners in Practice Programme will help the fantastic work councils are doing to deliver high-quality services and make a real difference to children’s lives.”

The other local authorities joining the Partners in Practice programme are Ealing, Camden, North Tyneside and South Tyneside in partnership, Essex, Stockport, East Riding of Yorkshire and Doncaster Trust.

The partners will develop and share strong practice, and deliver hands-on peer support to other councils to help improve outcomes for children and their families across the country.