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Harborough District Council

Supporting Leicestershire Families: Harborough Proposal

Version: V3 LCC

01/02/2013

Appendix 2

1

Harborough Proposal V3 LCC 1

Introduction

• Harborough District Council is fully committed to the Supporting Leicestershire

Families (SLF) Programme and it directly supports our priority to ‘support the

vulnerable in our society at the heart of the communities where they live’.

Harborough District has a developed culture of practitioners from different agencies

collaborating to meet the needs of its most vulnerable families. This partnership

proposal is intended to harness this dynamic, pragmatic approach.

• Drawing on our learning from Children’s Centres our vision is to root Supporting

Families resources at the level of the local community and the local network of

frontline practitioners. We believe this local approach means it is more likely that

practitioners can work together effectively and that the intervention will be owned by

the families themselves, who will work with us to determine their own journey towards

an improved family life.

• We have drawn experience, commitment and ownership from Harborough District

Council, Seven Locks Housing, the Children Centre programme and the Police who

have formed an initial informal ‘Development Group’ to submit this proposal, and

expect to become the Harborough Supporting Families Management Group to

ensure the delivery of the programme and build a robust ‘team around the family’

approach.

• We recognise that we need to integrate our Supporting Leicestershire Families

approach into a broader formal partnership and have agreed that the existing 0-19

Steering Group will expand its membership of local managers to become the

‘Vulnerable Families Group’ to enable it to provide robust governance for Supporting

Leicestershire Families and the integration of Harborough Supporting Leicestershire

Partnership. This will include Adult Social Care, Adult Mental Health, Probation (the

Police are already a member of the Group). This will form the ‘Harborough

Supporting Leicestershire Families Partnership’. The first meeting of the reconfigured

Vulnerable Families Group is on 14 February

• Between now and April 2013 we will begin to adapt existing local provision to

integrate with the Supporting Leicestershire Families programme by;

o Engaging and involving Managers from key services across the public sector

in the delivery of the SLF programme in Harborough and identifying frontline

staff to form a ‘Harborough network of local practitioners’.

o Building our existing network of local practitioners alongside our Supporting

Leicestershire Families Workers. Networking conversations with relevant

managers are well underway and there are advanced plans for a two day

facilitated training event involving relevant practitioners and parents learning

from each other in mid May.

o A focused effort to engage services for adults, particularly adult mental health

and probation.

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o Utilising and adapting (where possible) existing commissioned services for

the benefit of Supporting Leicestershire Families, such as Domestic Abuse

support and Financial Literacy & Money Advice.

• Our Supporting Families model can be found at Appendix A and consists of;

o A particular focus on identifying potential ‘Troubled’ and ‘At Risk’ families

through a range of frontline agencies.

o Referring families through standard systems and processes (including

safeguarding) to the County Council and supporting the emerging information

hub to produce an information profile of the family.

o We aspire to develop a broad Network of Practitioners who can respond to

referrals alongside the dedicated SLF workers,

o To make this work we will need to develop a regular coordination meeting

with a core membership of the Senior Family Support Worker and the Locality

Manager, with other practitioner’s and their managers invited to contribute to

planning around individual families.

• To oversee the Supporting Families service locally we are developing governance

and local Line Management structures (See appendix B, C and D). We will work with

the County Council to firm up these arrangements alongside finalising the Statement

of Commitment, Service Specification and Operating Framework

• As part of developing local governance we plan to engage Elected Members in the

programme. We will do this through reports to the Councils Executive and involve the

Portfolio Holder for Health and Community in developing the service, and update

members and regular member updates. We plan to run ‘meet the practitioner’ events

so that Members can discuss the service first hand with our family workers and

understand the impact of the programme.

• This proposal references and reflects the detailed work carried out by the County

Council into both the profile and locations of ‘Troubled’ and ‘At Risk’ families in the

district.

Profile of Troubled and At Risk families

• 67% of Troubled Families experience

violence or abuse

• 59% have mental health issues

• 55% have child educational difficulties

• 50% are involved in ASB & crime

• 75% of At Risk Families experience

reliance on State Benefits

Locations of Troubled and At Risk families

• Higher concentrations of Troubled

Families can be found in Market

Harborough, Lutterworth and

Broughton Astley

• Areas with high numbers of at risk

families can be found in Market

Harborough.

• 26 Troubled Families live in rural areas

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Locality Evaluation Framework

How will you use and interact with standard systems processes and protocols

identified in the Locality Pack?

• We strongly support the introduction of the standard systems and processes set out

in the Locality Pack. A central part of our model is about referring families to a central

hub at the County Council for screening, signposting and information gathering

before being passed back to the District.

• To ensure quality of practice from the Harborough Family Support Workers there

needs to be county-wide consistency in training, referral processes, case recording

and case management. We believe that this is the LCC offer and we welcome it.

We also believe that it is essential, particularly in the early days, that our Harborough

Family Support Workers are integrated into a county-wide team as well as being

embedded in locality arrangements through HDC and Children’s Centre structures.

• Harborough District Council has experience in single referral processes through First

Contact, joint case management of anti-social behaviour through Sentinel and joint

problem solving through the Joint Action Group and Team around the Family

meetings.

• Harborough District Council will link into the proposed countywide IT system to

ensure a single data set held in one place, with a single case management system

and adopt countywide referral processes, performance frameworks, practices and

procedures to support consistent delivery across the Council.

How will you ensure safeguarding complies with agreed standards and

protocols for family members and practitioners

• We strongly support the use of a single multi-agency safeguarding procedure. We

believe, for our Supporting Leicestershire Families workers, this is the LCC

safeguarding policy and procedure.

.

• We expect the Senior Family Support Worker and Family Support Workers to attend

Level 3 safeguarding and ‘signs of safety’ training.

• Harborough District Council’s Lead Safeguarding officer, who along side the Locality

Partnership Coordinator is already involved in delivering multi-agency level 3 training

across the county, will be a critical friend to our Supporting Leicestershire Families

service delivery.

• Our Locality Manager is a registered social worker with many years of safeguarding

experience.

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How will you identify families?

• We will liaise with partners to identify families who we are already working with who

might meet the criteria.

• We also strongly support a proactive preventative approach and believe it is at the

point when clear warning signs of a family heading for crisis present themselves that

collaborative partnership work stands the best chance of engaging the family and

affecting family change. Data and statistical analysis is less useful in Harborough as

deprivation is not concentrated in particular neighbourhoods.

• Therefore our proposal also uses a local and community based approach to work

proactively with a range of agencies to identify families. In particular those universal

services who can act as an ‘antennae’ for information and subtle clues that a family is

approaching crisis or where chaotic factors start ringing alarm bells.

• We need to engage a broad range of potential referrers. For example;

o Schools, which are identifying early warning signs from school behaviour or

family conflict.

o We aim to draw in Adult Mental Health through engaging with practitioners

from IAPT, Good Thinking Mental Health Facilitators and engaging with the

Mental Health Locality Manager

o Engage with Safer Neighbourhood Police Officers in referring families and as

part of building our Network of Practitioners.

o Housing partners, such as Seven Locks and Harborough Home Search who

are identifying signs, such as rent arrears or neighbourhood disputes. Work

with Seven Locks Housing to engage other Registered Social Landlords in

identifying and referring families and being part of the Network e.g. De

Montfort, East Midlands Housing, Leicester Housing (ASRA) and Riverside

Housing.

o Engage Harborough District Council Staff in identifying and referring families

eg. the ASB Co-ordinator, Leisure Services, Benefits Officers, Front of House

staff.

o Establish clear protocols for Children Centre Family Outreach Workers

remaining engaged with children over 5 (the current threshold).

o Engage GPs surgeries in the service as they hold the potential of being

critical identifiers of families and could be an important part in local family

plan.

o Engage the Joint Action Group in referring families to the service and in

problem solving community safety issues linked to families where this

requires a real time multi-agency discussion e.g. from Police, Probation,

Youth Offending, Youth Work and Community Safety.

o Work very closely with Acorn Training where families qualify for European

Social Fund support requiring coaching towards family goals, such as

employment.

o Work with the voluntary sector, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, who

regularly identify and advise vulnerable families.

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• An important objective will be to construct the virtual Harborough ‘Network of

Practitioners’ who we can call on to work alongside our Family Support Workers.

The aspiration is to call on the following members as required, Youth Inclusion

Support worker, Youth Offending Service, Youth workers, Adult Services, the Mental

Health Locality Manager, Community Safety Team, Children Centre Outreach/Project

Workers, Probation, Police, Family STEPS practitioner, local Acorn Training

coaches, Fun & Families, CAB intensive support workers and other agencies as

required.

How will your ‘local front door’ be developed and operate?

• Our ‘local front door’ is being developed with partners to identify what works best for

Harborough, but we aim to stimulate demand (engagement with the Supporting

Leicestershire Families service) by working with the agencies and partnerships set

out above. Our referral pathway is at Appendix A.

• Any member of the following partnership forums will also have a referral relationship

through our local front door.

- Behavioural and Attendance Partnership

- The Health and Well Being Partnership

- Community Safety Partnership

- Joint Action Group

- Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference ( MARAC) for a local family

- A CAF in relation to a local family

• We will develop a local communication plan to ensure partner agencies know what

service families can receive and how to refer into them in line with the county-wide

referral process. We will make the best use of existing communication resources,

such as utilising the Council’s website as a portal to provide relevant information to

partner agencies including the voluntary sector.

• The Harborough Supporting Families Management Group will introduce an event

with local practitioners and parents to promote the culture of the programme and

secure ‘buy in’.

• In relation to access points/information for families it is our intention to train Council

reception staff and customer advisors to recognise a family in need and to know how

to signpost and refer families to the programme.

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How will you allocate Family Support Workers?

• We will work with the agreed referral processes at the county-wide level. We

envisage that Harborough Family Support Workers will be involved in every case.

• We plan to hold a bi-weekly Coordination meeting. This will:

o Have a core membership of Locality Manager, Senior Harborough Family

Support Worker and our 3 Harborough Family Support Workers.

o Become a forum for planning engagement with families, stuck cases and exit

planning, by inviting practitioners who are part of the Harborough Network of

Practitioners, to discuss an individual family.

o Support the capacity and practice skills of the Harborough Family Support

Workers.

o Manage capacity of the service.

o Have accountability to ensure Harborough Family Support Work practice is

compliant with LCC expectations.

• In the Harborough Proposal, all of the Senior Harborough Family Support Worker

capacity would be dedicated to processes which facilitate engagement with families.

This will mean that the post holder will be expected to spend significant time working

alongside their Harborough Family Support Workers, often in the family home, but

will not be expected to hold even a small caseload. She will facilitate an engagement

meeting with each family.

How will your Locality Manager be identified and how would they operate:-

• In relation to the Family Support Workers and Senior Family Support

Staff

• In relation to coordinating services required from the ‘Team around the

Family’

• What competencies, capacity and other responsibilities would the

locality manager have

• We propose our Locality Partnership Coordinator to be our Locality Manager. Rob

Wakefield meets the Competency Framework and as a Registered Social Worker

would bring considerable frontline experience to the role. Rob has innovated,

managed and commissioned casework based support during the time in his current

role.

• Rob is co-located at Harborough District Council and has established key working

relationships within the Council including Housing Options, Children’s Services, Sport

and Physical Activity, Community Safety and VCS Grant funding.

• We propose our Children Centre Coordinator Sharon Peverelle, to be our Senior

Family Support Worker and she meets the common job description and person

specification. She would be seconded to the role and backfilled in her current role

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where she manages buildings and maintenance of Children Centres and manages 7

Family Outreach Workers.

• We consider that the 3 Family Support Workers should be employed by the County

Council and co- located with the District Council.

• A business support resource will be essential to the success of the programme in the

District and we are considering how we can meet this.

• Much consideration has been given to the capacity required from the Locality

Manager, and how the implications of this for the Locality Partnership Coordinator

post can be offset. The following factors have been considered;

o During the spring and early summer there will be significant demand on the

Manager as our local approach is developed.

o There is synergy between the broader 0-19 Locality Partnership Coordinator

role and the Supporting Families strategic work.

o The Harborough Supporting Families Management Group are committed to

‘stepping up’ to support their Locality Manager in making their Supporting

Families programme work.

o Longer term, once the programme is implemented, the level of capacity

require will fall to no more then one day a week.

In conclusion we believe the minimum time required is 1 day per week for the

Locality Manager and if our proposal accommodates this.

• The Children Centre Management Group have considered the implication of the loss

of capacity to our local Children’s Centre programme. There is consensus that this

could be ameliorated by the creation of a 0.5 post / capacity which focussed on

quality assurance processes, particularly in relation to outcome evidence for projects.

This would create capacity for the Locality Partnership Coordinator and Children’s

Centre Coordinator to take on the additional responsibilities of Locality Manager and

the Senior Family Support Worker.

• Funding has been identified as follows

o HDC has agreed to contribute an additional £10,000 to the Locality Manager

post (this is in addition to the agreed contribution to the Pooled Budget)

subject to finalisation of HDCs budget in February 2013.

o Backfill for the Senior Family Support Worker is already identified within the

Supporting Leicestershire Families budget, which would be requested – This

is estimated at £12,227

o There has been initial exploration of contributions from a consortium of

interested parties – Seven Locks, Police, schools

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What change and innovation do you propose as a result of the introduction of

the Supporting Families Services?

• This proposal represents a step change in the district partnership work to support

vulnerable families. For the first time there is a clear strategic commitment to

integrating CYPS services, Adult Services, HDC services, local schools, housing

providers, health, police etc in a coordinated process to support vulnerable families.

The strategic intent is a pragmatic joining up of workers supporting vulnerable

families by building relationships between frontline workers working with the same

families in the same area.

• It will remodel the Locality Partnership Manager Post and Children’s Centre Post to

the Supporting Leicestershire Families agenda.

• The integration of the Supporting Leicestershire Families approach into the Children's Centre programme is clearly innovative, and makes sense because a recent survey of family outreach workers case load against Supporting Leicestershire Families criteria identified that of the 156 live cases 62 (40%) met 5 criteria defining them as ‘troubled’.

• The bid will progress the long held aspiration for the Harborough District Children & Young Peoples' Steering Group to become a Vulnerable Families Group and further promote integration across the 0-19 age range and link it to a whole family approach.

• The Harborough Supporting Families Management Group, will through its membership, have clear reporting linkages to Vulnerable Families group , the Community Safety Partnership and the Health & Wellbeing Forum.

.

• Our Harborough Family Support Workers will become part of the local team o They will have shared team meetings with their experienced children centre

family outreach worker colleagues. o They will be co-located at Brooklands in Market Harborough whilst the

Council Headquarters is being redeveloped. This office is leased by the County Council and also sites County practitioners in Adult and Social Care, which will very helpful in developing the service over the initial 12 months.

o In January 2014 they will be co-located in the Council’s redeveloped Offices on Adam and Eve Street alongside public and voluntary sector partners creating a multi-agency hub including HDC services such as Community Safety, Housing Options, Benefits, Sport and Physical Activity.

• Harborough District Council are reviewing their grant funding to the voluntary sector with a view to aligning it with the Supporting Leicestershire Families Programme where possible.

How will you maximise the use of existing resources?

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• Our whole approach is about drawing in existing resources to work with the Harborough Family Support Workers through process outlined in the ‘How will you allocate support workers’ section above.

• Up to one FTE of children's centre family outreach worker capacity will work with older children or to support transitions into school.

• Our proposed Locality Manager is also our Locality Partnership Co-ordinator and our

proposed Senior Family Support Worker is our Children Centre Co-ordinator which

will facilitate integrated delivery of the Supporting Leicestershire Families

Programme, the development of youth provision in the district programme and the

Children’s Centre Programme.

• The three sub groups of the Vulnerable Families Group; Children’s Centre

Management Group, Strategic Youth Group and the Harborough Supporting Families

Management Group will have parity in agenda setting and discussion time.

• We are joining up commissioning between Harborough’s Community Safety work and the Harborough Children's Centre programme This will mean that:

o The new service specification for the joint Harborough/Melton domestic

violence commissioning will include the expectation that outreach services will engage with the Supporting Leicestershire Families agenda to work with older children and their families.

o Rationalisation of the Children's Centre and the Community Safety Citizens Advice Bureau commissioning arrangements to create a seamless service.

What will the locality governance arrangements be?

Harborough SLF Governance – Appendix B

• At the Strategic Level, accountability for the service will be divided between the

County SLF Commissioning Board and the Harborough Locality Executive which is

currently being established. Harborough District Councils Chief Executive will chair

the Locality Executive and is a member of the County SLF Commissioning Board.

The Harborough SLF Partnership – the Vulnerable Families Group- will report to the

Locality Executive

• The Locality Executive will be made up of Chief Executives and Senior Officers

which will replace the LSP and will be established by April 2013. It will provide

strategic leadership and enable delivery of the four Harborough Locality priorities of:

1. Supporting Leicestershire Families

2. Reducing Rural Isolation

3. Improving Rural Broadband

4. Enabling the Welland Community Building project.

• The Locality Executive will oversee the local delivery and performance of the

Supporting Leicestershire Families Programme. It will also ensure that other

Partnerships in the district are fully contributing to the delivery of the Supporting

Leicestershire Families Programme (such as the Community Safety Partnership, the

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Health and Well Being Partnership and Joint Action Group). It will be responsible for

reporting to the County SLF Commissioning Board.

• Within Harborough District Council supporting Leicestershire Families is part of the

Councils Corporate Plan and has been identified as one of the Council’s Critical

activities. Progress in delivering the Programme in Harborough will be reported to

and reviewed by the Councils Corporate Management Team, the Executive and the

Portfolio Holder, Councillor Holyoak, through the Council’s Performance

Management arrangements.

• Scrutiny of the Programme will be provided by the District Council’s Scrutiny

Commission, the County Council’s Scrutiny Commission, the Locality Executive and

the Vulnerable Families Group ( Harborough’s Supporting Leicestershire Families

Partnership).

• At the Operational Level, delivery of the service will be led by the Harborough

Supporting Families Management Group who will also ensure adherence to

countywide standard tools and approaches. The Supporting Families Management

Group is a small group currently consisting of;

o Harborough District Council – Head of Policy, Performance & Partnerships,

Community Partnerships Manager, Housing Options Manager

o Seven Locks Housing – Executive Director

o Harborough LPU Police Inspector

o Leicestershire County Councils Locality Partnership Coordinator (now our

Locality Manager) and Children Centre Coordinator (now our Senior Family

Support Worker)

• The Management Group will report into the Vulnerable Families Group, which will

contain a cross section of managers from a wide range of adult, family and children

and young people’s services identified in this Proposal who will be critical in building

the service locally.

• The Management Group will also (through membership) liaise with other district

thematic partnerships to ensure engagement with wider stakeholders.

Harborough SLF Line Management Appendix C & D

• We propose a matrix model of management whereby three senior managers within

the County Council and Harborough District are responsible for different aspects of

programme and Rob’s substantive post.

• HDC Head of Performance Policy and Partnerships

o Will have a scrutiny and local problem solving relationship with the Locality

Manager

o Reports directly to the Chief Executive, who has strategic accountability for the

service and is a member of the Corporate Management Team.

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o Will provide overall management and oversight on behalf of HDC and the Chief

Executive for delivering the programme in the locality.

• LCC Head of Supporting Leicestershire Families.

o Will have a relationship with the Locality Manager which ensures compliance with

county systems and approaches.

o Will oversee the work of all the Locality Managers in the County and will provide

professional support and advice to the Harborough Locality Manager.

• LCC Senior Strategy Manager

o Will be responsible for overseeing and managing the Locality Partnership Co-

ordinator element of the Locality Manager’s substantive role.

• Locality Manager

o Appointed to meet the specification defined by the SLF Design Authority Board.

o To be responsible for the performance of locality against agreed outcomes and

outputs.

o To be responsible for compliance to the family model and the spirit of the vision

for Supporting Leicestershire Families.

o To be responsible for compliance to core standards established for the service

o To be accountable to the Heads of Service under matrix management

arrangements outlined above.

How will you develop community capacity/utilise existing locality

arrangements to support the aim of the programme/service?

• We will draw in Children Centre experience in volunteer development for families who

have successfully achieved family change. For example, part of the Family’s Plan could

include a parent or child volunteering in the local community to build skills, confidence or

be able to help other families and share their experience.

• To support volunteering opportunities and capacity build for families we will also work

with VASL, VAL, HomeStart, the Lutterworth Volunteer Centre and Citizens Advice etc to

offer suitable project placements.

• We would seek to utilise the Stronger Communities element of the Supporting

Leicestershire Families budget to strengthen a family’s link to their local community. We

would envisage using this to meet the individual needs of the family to enable

volunteering and participation in community and civic life. This may involve funding to

attend training e.g. first aid, or to pay for childcare, transport, uniform etc. to enable the

above.

• A Harborough Strategic Youth Group / Harborough Children & Young People Charity

(HCYC) initiative seeks to encourage parish led youth provision development by utilising

a worker associated with our ‘Chill Out bus’. We are exploring the viability of this

development worker, when recruited, having a job description that has an expectation of

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engaging local parents who have received Supporting Leicestershire Families support, in

planning and developing youth provision for their children.

• Through the new Parish Liaison Post at HDC we will work with Parish and Town Council

to encourage them to provide support in their communities as needed

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Appendix A

Harborough SLF Flow Diagram

Network of Local

Practitioners

Acorn Training,

Strengthening Families,

Youth Inclusion Support

Project (YISP), Children

Centre Outreach

Workers, Family STEPS,

Fun & Families, Citizens

Advice Bureau, Mental

Health Workers,

Housing officers, Safer

Neighbourhood Teams,

School Pastoral Teams

or SENCO’s, Probation

Potential ‘Troubled

Family’ Identified by

any agency

Standard referral to

Leicestershire County

Council (Information hub)

Family meeting for

introductions/ defining

FSW role / planning with

the family and

coordinating relevant

practitioners from the

Network

Supporting Leicestershire

Families cases to

Harborough Senior

Family Support Worker

Regular Coordination /

problem solving

meeting to allocate

cases to Family Support

Workers – network

practitioners relevant to

the family by invitation

Safeguarding cases

to Social Services

Other cases may require

Information/ service

referral e.g. Children

Centre

Core membership:

Locality Manager, Senior

Family Support Worker

3X Family Support

Workers

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APPENDIX B

Harborough SLF Governance

Harborough SLF Management

Group

Chaired by HDC Head of Policy,

Performance & Partnerships/ Locality

Manager

• Strategic Planning,

implementation and review of

service on behalf of Chief

Executive

Vulnerable Families Group

Previously 0-19 Steering Group

(Harborough SLF Partnership)

• Multi-agency and Management

level representation; able to

coordinate and commit

resources and agree

recommendations from

Harborough SLF Management

Group

• Receives performance reports

(quarterly, annually and annual

conversation)

County SLF Commissioning

Board

Attended by HDC Chief Executive &

County Head of SLF

• Partnership revenue funding

• Development of standard

strategies, policies, systems and

processes

Harborough Locality Executive Chaired by HDC Chief Executive

• Locality implementation of

standard strategies, policies,

systems and processes

• Robust Operational

Partnerships and oversight

arrangements are in Place

STRATEGIC

OPERATIONAL

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APPENDIX C

Harborough SLF Line Management

Head of Policy,

Performance &

Partnerships

Harborough District

Council

Head of Supporting

Leicestershire

Families


Council

Senior Strategy

Manager, Children &

Young People Service


Council

SLF Locality Manager

(Substantive Role: Locality

Partnership Coordinator)

Leicestershire County Council

Senior Family Support

Worker (Substantive Role:

Children Centre

Coordinator)

Leicestershire County Council

3 X Family Support

Workers


Council

For SLF role

For substantive role

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APPENDIX D

Harborough District Council Structure including SLF staff

Anna Graves, Chief

Executive Officer

Beverly Jolly, Assistant Director

Corporate Resources

Ann Marie Hawkins,

Shared Head of Policy,

Performance &

Partnerships

Jim Holden, Shared

Section 151 Officer

Verina Wenham,

Shared Head of Legal Services

Norman Proudfoot, Assistant Director

Community Services

Corporate

Management

Team

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