South East

Welcome to the South East Region IRO Network (SEIRON)

Regional Leads / Chairs for the SE Region

Pritpal Sodhi | Co-Chair | pritpal.sodhi@kent.gov.uk

Linde Webbe | Co-Chair | linde.webber@surreycc.gov.uk

The Region

Brighton and Hove | Bracknell Forest | Buckinghamshire | East Sussex | Hampshire | Isle of Wight | Kent | Medway | Milton Keynes | Oxfordshire | Portsmouth | Reading | Slough | Southampton | Surrey | West Berkshire | West Sussex | Royal Borough of Windsor | Wokingham

Events

The South East region has a well organised programme of regional events with clear lines of reporting to the two elected Chairs. Attendance at regional meetings strengthened considerably during 2015 with meetings involving a mix of IRO practitioners and IRO Managers. Finding a suitably sized (free) venue became a problem so meetings are now restricted to one representative per authority. See  more under ‘Regional Update’ below.

Meetings are held four times a year and have allowed the region to maintain an eye to the impact of the changes to IRO services and to local government children’s services.

Unless otherwise stated, all regional meetings are held from 10.00 am to midday.

Future meeting dates:

26/04/2019 @ 10-12pm, LG3, Consort House, Queensway, Redhill, RH1 1YB.

12/07/2019 @ 10-12pm, F02, Fairmount House, Leatherhead, KT22 7AH

11/09/2019 @ 10-12pm, VENUE TO BE CONFIRMED

Regional Update October – December 2015

At its October 2015 meeting SERION representatives agreed a change to the aim, format and membership of all future meetings. IROs have welcomed the opportunity to attend meetings and numbers of attendees have increased considerably during 2015. This has resulted in problems providing a large enough venue. We agreed that future meetings will be restricted to managers (one for each authority) in order that meetings can focus on effective implementation of the SEIRON work plan. Acknowledgement was given to the support needs of IROs.

We agreed that all IROs should subscribe to the NIROMP website for news, virtual discussions and updates. Professional support for IROs will also be delivered via a schedule of local, regional and national conferences that will enable IROs across the region to come together for structured learning events.     

Workforce development

There have been some major changes in legislation and guidance this year. The region has discussed many of these, including the implications of the latest findings from research and best practice and implications of the Children and Social Work Act 2017. Issues for children’s permanence and stability, children’s life story needs, the impact of judicial processes and the IRO role in care proceedings have carried prominence. Other themes have been concerns about workforce capacity, recruitment and retention

Following a successful bid by SEIRON, the South East Sector Led Improvement Partnership (SESLIP) has awarded the region financial support for a SE Region IRO Conference. SESLIP have welcomed the commitment to improvements as set out in SEIRONs work plan.

SEIRON held its first IRO Conference on 20th May, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm at the in May 2016 focused on permanence throughout the child’s care journey. Venue was the Leatherhead Leisure Centre in Surrey. IROs had the opportunity to hear from a range of keynote speakers with direct experience of care.

SEIRON has developed links with the SESLIP Data Benchmarking Group and has started work to develop benchmarking performance data for IROs across the region. For more information contact: Sharon Martin. Email: sharon.martin@brighton-hove.gcsx.gov.uk

Brighton & Hove, East Sussex & West Sussex has held  IRO Consortium event. On 15th June 2015 we had Guest speaker Professor Julie Selwyn present the findings from her research: ‘Beyond the Adoption Order: challenges, intervention and disruption’. More recently (November 2015) we held an event looking at ‘Cultural Competency’.

We joined with IRO colleagues from across the country for a #IROConf17 ‘Not to stop questioning’.

Ofsted Inspection of services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers

Information can be found on our Ofsted SIF page.

South East Region Aims and Key Priorities

The South East region has developed an action plan based on its regional priorities and as linked to its national work plan.

We aim to:

• improve outcomes for children and young people across the South East by working with and across local authorities in support of open, constructive dialogue and challenge;
• achieve a coherent and consistent self-improving system for children and their families as a result of effective leadership, reflective practice and peer challenge including that arising from peer review, mentoring and learning support.

Our Key Priorities

1. Achieving timely and effective permanence planning and stability for children and young people.
2. Effective involvement of children and young people, especially in relation to their life story needs; care planning and review activities.
3. Evidencing effective challenge to ensure improved outcomes for children and young people across the region and identifying targeted learning and improvement activities within this.

Contact Us

For more information please submit your query and contact details below.