Annual Report 2006-2007 - Cafcass

This year we also produced three DVDs for staff and
introduced an Online Policy Centre to support the roll-out
of new policies. The Online Policy Centre will provide staff
with electronic notifications of new policies or updates,
making policy compliance much more achievable.
“I feel the Online Policy Centre is a
terrific idea. To know when policies
are issued and then to make sure time
is taken to read and absorb them is
essential… policies are important and
part of our culture in our line of work.”
Cafcass staff member
The Cafcass wiki
case study
Succession planning in West Midlands
In the West Midlands, as in other regions, recruiting Service Managers has proved difficult. The number of
applicants has been low, with a high drop-out rate after short-listing. A broader and longer-term approach, with a
focus on developing our own staff, is now being progressed.
Many FCAs had expressed interest in moving into management, but felt that there was no path to allow them to
develop the necessary skills and experience to be able to compete with existing managers from other agencies.
In order to address this, a number of additional responsibility posts were recently offered to FCAs, to give
them the opportunity to spend up to 50% of their time on practice supervision, allocation of work and quality
assurance. Interest in these posts was high and most teams in the West Midlands now have an FCA with additional
responsibilities to support the Service Manager. These FCAs will be encouraged to attend relevant supervision and
management training, which will support them to meet the required criteria to apply for permanent management
positions when they arise.
Section 1: Management Commentary | 25