Meet the new children's services boss at Redcar and Cleveland Council

Danielle Swainston
-Credit: (Image: RCBC)


A new executive director of children and family services has been confirmed at Redcar and Cleveland Council.

Danielle Swainston began work last month, replacing Kathryn Boulton who left the post earlier in the summer to take early retirement. Mrs Swainston, who has moved from Hartlepool Council, is a qualified teacher and graduated from Trinity and All Saints College in Leeds. She has worked in local authority children’s services since 2002.

During that time she has held responsibility for the likes of Sure Start local programmes, children’s centres, early help and safeguarding. As an assistant director for the past nine years, her remit has also included commissioning joint services, welfare support and housing and homelessness, as well as the Hartlepool and Stockton Safeguarding Children’s Partnership.

Mrs Swainston, who has two children of her own, said she was excited about her new role and looking forward to building on her predecessor’s “excellent work”. The 51-year-old said: “My children have grown up in this area and I feel passionate about giving every child the opportunity to succeed, whatever their circumstances.”

Children and family services includes the likes of children’s social care, education and special educational needs and inclusion with just under 700 staff working in the directorate. They were graded by Ofsted as ‘requiring improvement to be good’ in Redcar and Cleveland following the publication of a report in September 2022.

However the results of a focused visit published in August last year said senior leaders had responded swiftly to the areas flagged for improvement. Earlier this year a so-called ‘peer challenge’ review said children’s services in the borough functioned strongly as a whole, with evidence of collaborative working to achieve good outcomes.

But it also made 24 recommendations with the local authority putting in place an action plan in order to implement them. The review referenced the problems faced by the department in line with councils elsewhere - namely increased demand for complex children’s care and the rising cost of it, particularly when commissioned from the private sector, which has led to large annual budgetary overspends.

It stated: “The council is having to strike a very difficult balance between providing child centred services, with the volumes, costs and complexity of work relating to children and young people increasing significantly, which has the potential to impact the future financial sustainability of the organisation."

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