I qualified as a Social Worker in 2008 with my first role being in a secure custodial facility for 12–17-year-old vulnerable young offenders. From here I moved to work with local governments in a variety of teams – namely a Family and Adolescent Support Team where the focus was on intensive early intervention to prevent family breakdown, Referral & Assessment Teams, Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs, a Family Support and Intervention Team and an Emergency Duty Team. I have been working in management roles since 2013 where I have remained, progressing through from Assistant Team Manager, Team Manager and Service/Group Manager, and have been working directly with Flex360, part of the RT Group, as their independent Head of Children’s Services since 2022. At Flex360, I head up the Assessment Service arm of the company, which specialises in the provision of independent Social Workers for ad hoc pieces of work, specialist assessments and project teams. It is my role to source, interview, and oversee all Social Workers registered within the Assessment Service and be the direct practice link between UK-wide local authorities and independent fostering agencies in relation to their practical service needs. I will source Social Workers to fulfil the jobs, provide supervision, quality assure the work and deal with any emergency/crises situations as they arise. Work will be provided back to clients fully quality assured, and once clients are satisfied, they are invoiced, and workers are paid. As Head of Children’s Services, I will also attend business meetings with potential clients to talk through our service offering, compile performance/engagement reports for clients with whom we have ongoing contracts, and review RT Group’s Safeguarding policies.