Manchester City Council has appointed a new Director of Children’s Services to take over from the current interim Director, Gladys Rhodes White.



The new Director will be Paul Marshall who is currently Assistant Director of Children’s Services at Rochdale Borough Council.

His appointment follows a rigorous recruitment process. Councillor Sheila Newman, Executive Member for Children’s Services, Manchester City Council, who was on the appointment panel, said: “Members of the appointment panel were unanimous in deciding that Paul was the outstanding candidate for the job. Paul will bring great confidence to the future of services to the city’s children.”

His appointment comes a year after Manchester’s children’s services were slammed in an OFSTED report as being inadequate and found that in a large number of cases (486) which had waited a considerable time for a social work assessment resulting in a significant number of children not being seen or having their needs assessed or recorded.

A start date is being arranged with Paul’s current employer and there will be a well managed hand-over between him and the current interim Director of Children’s Services.

Sir Howard Bernstein, Chief Executive of Manchester City Council, said: “Paul is a highly experienced leader of Children’s Services and has successfully led sustained improvements for a number of local authorities.

“He brings with him a wealth of expertise and a real understanding of children’s social work in an urban environment, and joins Manchester at a crucial time for the city as we try to embed best practice and further improve the way we deliver services to children and families over the next few years.”

Paul began his social work career in 1994 as a social worker at Halton Borough Council, followed by appointments in Stockport and Lancashire, before moving to Knowsley Council where he was Head of Service for five years from 2007 – 2012. He then moved to Birmingham City Council as Assistant Director for a year from 2012-2013, and from there to Rochdale Borough Council where he has been Assistant Director of Children’s Services since 2013.

He said: “Throughout my career I’ve been committed to working with others to achieve the very best for children and young people, and I’m determined to do everything I can to ensure this in Manchester.
“The city already has a far reaching reputation for innovation, regeneration, and creativity, as well as a fast growing economy, and I welcome the opportunity to make its children’s services a similar success story, and to continue the ‘turn around’ in the service that is already well underway post Ofsted.

“It’s also an exciting time to be joining a city that is at the forefront of the devolution agenda, and I’m confident that working together with both the strategic management team and front-line colleagues, we will be able to make a real difference and further improve the lives and experiences of the city’s children and young people.”

1 COMMENT

  1. I suppose the obvious question is whether or not this appointment will make any difference to Children’s Services in Manchester.

    The previous incumbent, Gladys Rhodes-White, was also a highly regarded troubleshooter by some accounts.

    Seems like a lack of resource is the issue to me.

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