About Community and Children's Services
The Department of Community and Children's Services (DCCS) has a wide remit to provide care and support to the residential and worker population of the City of London. It is responsible for:
- all the people, housing, education, social care and community services for the 9292-strong residential community within the Square Mile
- public health, leisure and adult education for both residents and the 550,100 people working in the City of London
- building new affordable homes and for the maintenance and repairs programme of our existing properties including the Barbican Estate, Middlesex Street Estate, Golden Lane Estate and ten other estates situated in six different London boroughs
The DCCS Outcomes Framework sets out our five priority themes. These are:
- Safe - People of all ages live in safe communities, our homes are safe and well maintained and our estates are protected from harm
- Potential - People of all ages can achieve their ambitions through education,training and lifelong-learning
- Independence, involvement and choice - People of all ages can live independently, play a role in their communities and exercise choice over their services
- Health and wellbeing - People of all ages enjoy good health and wellbeing
- Community - People of all ages feel part of, engaged with and able to shape their community
Ofsted inspected the Department of Community and Children's Services in March 2020 to assess the quality and effectiveness of its services for children and young people in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers.
"Children’s services in the City of London are outstanding.
"Children benefit from a strong and highly effective social work service which has continued to significantly improve since the previous inspection."
Outstanding - The impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families
Good - The experiences and progress of children who need help and protection
Outstanding - The experiences and progress of children in care and care leavers
Outstanding - Overall effectiveness
The City Corporation were the fifth London Borough to be judged outstanding in this period.
See the full inspection report for more information.
How we are governed
The work of Children and Families Services is governed by the wider City of London Corporation and various partner organisations.
Children's Partnership Board
The Children’s Partnership Board (CPB) will provide a focus and forum for partnership work to improve outcomes for children and young people by championing, developing and delivering the Children and Young People’s Plan.
Key Responsibilities
- Championing our local vision for children, young people and their families
- Overseeing and supporting delivery of our Children and Young People’s Plan by initiating, developing and monitoring partnership work
- Providing a forum for shared learning and development and ‘join up’ of services, strategies and systems
- Championing engagement and co-production, including with the City Youth Forum, Children in Care Council and SEND Parents Forum
- Providing a vehicle for oversight and implementation of the CYPP linking to the Health and Wellbeing Board, City and Hackney Children’s Safeguarding Board, Integrated Commissioning Programme (Children and Maternity), Safer City Partnership and City Corporation CCS Grand Committee
Members of the CPB will be expected to support partnership work to improve outcomes for children and young people and provide leadership on the CYPP within their organisations.
City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership
The City of London jointly leads the City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership (CHSCP) along with the London Borough of Hackney. The Partnership is made up of senior representatives from its member groups and sub-committees, which carry out the Partnership's responsibilities. All sub-committees report back to the Partnership which meets quarterly. The City of London has a sub-committee which reports to the CHSCP and to the City's Corporate Parenting Task group.
NHS East London and the City
The three primary care trusts serving the City and Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets are working together as NHS East London and the City.
These trusts have joined forces to improve health services for local people, and they will also be working in partnership with local authorities to support the development of GP commissioning group. A single board is accountable for ensuring the responsibilities of the three primary care trusts are carried out.
The Department of Community and Children's Services (DCCS) Commissioning team's portfolio includes Housing, Adults Services, Children and Families, Education and Early Years, Adult learning, and Public Health services.
We have a combination of in-house, spot purchased and commissioned services.
Our services may be commissioned jointly with other local authorities, clinical commissioning groups, voluntary and private sector organisations, and other groups.
Our commissioning approach is to:
- be collaborative
- be outcome-focused
- encourage innovation
- have a strong focus on personalisation
- incorporate continuous improvement
- have our communities at the heart of all we do
- make the City of London a place where the voluntary sector, SMEs and social enterprises want to do business
Take a look at our commissioning prospectuses for Children and Young People’s Services and Adults' Services (both below).
Tenders
Our tenders are advertised via Capital E-sourcing and, where appropriate, we undertake market involvement in the development of our service specifications.
Between 12-16 March 2018, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) conducted a joint inspection of the local area of the City of London to judge the effectiveness of the area in implementing the disability and special educational needs (SEN) reforms, as set out in the Children and Families Act 2014.
Inspectors spoke with children and young people who have SEN and/or disabilities, parents and carers, local authority and National Health Service (NHS) officers. They visited a range of providers and spoke to leaders, staff and governors about how they were implementing the special educational needs reforms.
Our inspection letter outlines findings from the inspection, including some areas of strengths and areas for further improvement.
Find out more in the Joint Local Area SEND Inspection Letter at the bottom of this page.