Stockport council to showcase award winning Family Context tool

In this showcase on 13th September, they will explain how their data solution, used by social work and child protection services teams, helps ensure more young people are well looked after by their families and fewer end up in care.

Councillor Jilly Julian, Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, says: “The Family Context tool saves thousands of hours of social worker time, making the most of our resources and allowing our frontline workers to spend more time face to face with families. All local authorities have a statutory duty to safeguard vulnerable children, and a significant benefit of this digital solution is that it creates new insights that can identify risk and lead to better decision-making. We hope that other authorities will adopt Family Context. If you have similar needs and challenges, please join us for our showcase.”

Family Context Show and Tell - Wednesday 13 September, 10 am to 11 am - Reserve your free place on Eventbrite.

The Family Context project explored ways of providing comprehensive contextual information for frontline workers to let them know which services are engaged with a child’s family. The project was awarded funding through the Local Digital Fund and developed in collaboration with public sector partners, aiming to create a solution that should allow other local authorities to replicate the tech.

Family Context gives social workers a snapshot of agencies working with a family and their contact details, significantly reducing the time it takes to gather this information from 2-3 hours per assessment to around 20 minutes, freeing up more time to spend face-to-face with families.

As well as saving time, the tool gives a more extensive range of data sources right at the beginning of the assessment and helps services to coordinate support. Giving social workers new information they would otherwise not have seen can help them protect children from harm even when no single service perceives significant risk.

Further information:
Local Digital Council Spotlight: Stockport’s Family Context tool
Family Context Toolkit on Digital Stockport website
News: Stockport Council wins the iNetwork Outstanding Contribution Award
News: Stockport Council wins LGC Digital Impact Award