Using a mixed methods approach, involving interviews with 16 stakeholders, the report sets out learning from an evaluation of the first year of the Children’s Innovation Partnership between Barnardo’s and Leicestershire County Council.
Set against a national backdrop of increasing austerity and constrained budgets for all local authorities driving the need for efficiencies, a number of initiatives within LCC Children and Families Services (CFS) had been developed under the Council’s Transformation Programme, aimed at improving outcomes for children and young people in the care system whilst reducing demand on services and costs. they commissioned Barnardo's as a Partner to support in codesigning, co-investing and co-delivering services; identifying opportunities to redesign services drawing on expert co-design teams to produce new delivery models; and developing a new relational commissioning model in collaboration with providers.
The evaluation identifies key drivers for achieving innovation, including sufficient upfront investment, strong leadership, clearly defined resources and roles, and the right climate for innovation, and draws out key learning from the development and implementation of the partnership to inform future delivery.
Keywords: Innovation, Partnership, Care system