The move to what the authority called a new model of children’s service is part of a plan to turn around the city’s social services, which have been described as failing in reviews of the council’s performance.
This is the third year of an improvement plan for the children’s social services, which followed a number of serious case reviews.
Birmingham said that this decision had been discussed for some time with the Department for Education and was the next logical step for improvement.
The move for a voluntary trust to run the authority’s children’s services will need to be approved by the council’s cabinet. The move would mirror a reform made in Doncaster, where a trust took over children’s services in October 2014.
“We are now at the start of the third year of our agreed improvement journey plan and it is acknowledged by our children’s services commissioner that expected progress has been made. Key to this has been putting families at the centre of social work. It is now the time to consider a model that has social workers at its centre,” Birmingham said in a statement.
“In moving to the next phase, Birmingham City Council and the DfE are committed to working together, along with our members, staff, partners and trades unions, on details of how the trust will operate.”
