Martin Birch, Director of Sefton Council's Children’s Services, has tendered his resignation

Martin Birch, Director of Sefton Council's Children’s Services, has tendered his resignation.  Martin is expected to leave Sefton in April, although exact dates are to be confirmed.

The Council’s Employment Procedure Committee will now meet to determine the timeline and agree the approach to recruiting a new Director of Children’s Services, which includes any interim arrangements that may need to be made, as the role of Director of Children’s Services is a statutory role that councils must have.

Martin’s resignation was not at the Council’s request but was for personal reasons. Martin has accepted an offer to become the DCS for Cumberland, closer to home, with less travel involved.

Martin joined Sefton in April 2022, just after the Ofsted inspection which rated Sefton’s Children’s Services as Inadequate. Since then, a great deal of hard work has gone in to putting into place an improvement plan, enhancing leadership capacity, mitigating the local impact of the national social worker recruitment crisis by creating the first Social Work Academy in Merseyside and increasing the resourcing of Children’s Services.

Sefton Council Chief Executive, Dwayne Johnson, said:
“I would like to thank Martin for the work he has done since he joined the council last year and wish him the best of luck in his new role.

“Martin has led Children’s Services during an unprecedented and challenging time, but thanks to Martin and his dedicated staff, and the Council's significant financial investment into Children’s Services, improvements continue to be made at pace.

“We are delighted to announce Risthardh Hare, our current Assistant Director (Health and Protection), will be stepping up in to the interim Director of Children’s Services role while the recruitment process is underway. We have every confidence that Risthardh’s experience in other leadership roles will maintain a relentless focus on practice whilst serving as our Interim DCS.

 “We have informed the Commissioner, Paul Boyce, of Martin’s resignation.”