Ms Matson spoke with staff last week at an event to unveil the Council’s new vision for the service.

During the event, the new director of children’s services described the ‘transformational journey’ that the service has been on since 2019, and outlined her ambition for the service to become confident but compassionate, with leaders at every level - a workforce that focuses on the needs of children and their families and creates change where change is needed.

The vision was first published last December in an event for Councillors, stakeholders and partners, and forms the basis of the Council’s work with Ofsted and the Department for Education.

Ann-Marie Matson joined North East Lincolnshire Council last December, going on to quickly recruit a new, permanent leadership team.

Speaking at the event, Ann-Marie Matson said:

“Our offer has to be about helping children to be the best that they can possibly be. As a service, we must be compassionate, but confident, and our work must always be about making a real difference”.

“We want a service that has leadership at every level that empowers our staff to provide the best outcomes for the children and the families that we’re working with. That means compassionate leadership, clear leadership and confident leadership.”

Speaking about the desire to avoid sending children with complex needs out of the area for their care and education, Ms Matson went on to add:

“We must always seek to gain the best outcomes and that means wherever possible keeping children here, in North East Lincolnshire -  in their community, their homes with their families and friends.”

Finally, Ms Matson spoke about the desire to attract new staff. In recent years, a national shortage of skilled positions such as social workers and education psychologists has seen the Council struggling to manage complex cases.

“We want to create a skilled, stable and confident workforce which are focused on identifying and meeting need early”.

“This will mean an increase in apprenticeships, growing our own social workers, and developing those relationships that we have with universities in and around the region.”

If you're interested in joining our team, North East Lincolnshire are hiring now to a range of roles across Children’s Social Work. 

Check out their latest vacancies on our jobs board.

The event was held at Grimsby Town Hall on the same day as the Council’s latest Ofsted Monitoring Report letter was published, showing further improvement in the service.

Councillor Margaret Cracknell, portfolio holder for children and education, said:

“We have made a tremendous amount of progress. Our service has grown in capability, and continues to grow.

“Ann-Marie has brought with her a significant amount of experience of what an Ofsted-rated outstanding local authority looks like, and that will be intrinsic to our own journey in the years ahead.’

“We want the very best outcomes for our children. They are our future and we are prioritising every stage of their development, whether that be through activity and networking groups at our seven family hubs, through mental health support for school-age children, or through careers advice for school and college-leavers.

“We want to work with our partners in the community to make sure that children and young people have access to the best support possible.”