Child and Family Services Dept is ‘bonfire of bureaucracy’ claims head officer

A “bonfire of bureaucracy” is happening in Swansea Council’s child and family services department, its head officer has said.

The idea, said Julie Davies, was to enable social workers and other staff to spend more time with young people and their families and less time on paperwork.

She was speaking at a council child and family scrutiny panel, where she outlined the service’s priorities, what it had learned from the Covid pandemic, and how improvements could be made.

The department’s vision is to do what matters to make things better for children. Ms Davies said that meant focusing on the voices of children supported by the service.

A continued emphasis on prevention and early intervention, she said, was also important.

Another priority was to challenge the Welsh Government to reduce the bureaucracy and processes associated with grants and to trust councils to spend the money on what mattered to young people and their families.

Cllr Mike Durke asked: “Are we at last having a bonfire of bureaucracy in child and family services? I can’t believe what I’m hearing – this sounds very exciting to me. I hope so.”