WillisPalmer is delighted to announce that we have been nominated as a best practice representative in the health and social care issue of the prestigious Parliamentary Review for 2020.

The Parliamentary Review is a series of independent publications, which aims to share best practice among policy makers and business leaders. Each of its editions focuses on a key governmental policy area, with a variety of organisations sharing their insight alongside cabinet ministers, government agencies, associations and trade bodies.

Former secretary of state for communities and local government Eric Pickles was appointed chair of the publication in 2017, and former home secretary David Blunkett was appointed as co-chair in 2018.

The Parliamentary Review is a must-have guide to industry best practice, which demonstrates how sector leaders have responded to challenges in the political and economic environment. The Review has several editions, each focusing on an individual policy area with the strategic aim of raising standards by highlighting best practice.

The Parliamentary Review invites organisations to be represented in the publication, and WillisPalmer was selected to appear in their health and social care publication. The issue of the Parliamentary Review which featured WillisPalmer was published in March 2020. However, as England had just been placed into lockdown in response to COVID-19, we felt it was inappropriate for us to be celebrating the publication at that time. While restrictions were later lifted, 2020 has been a challenging year for many.

Therefore, as we are about to leave 2020 in the past, we have decided to announce that we have featured in the best practice guide as we hopefully head towards a better 2021.

Chief Executive of WillisPalmer Mark Willis: “We are delighted to have been selected as a best practice representative in the Parliamentary Review. WillisPalmer prides itself on our high standards providing independent social work and psychological services. We are particularly proud to be a genuinely multi-disciplinary organisation working intensively with vulnerable families to provide positive change in a bid to prevent children entering the care system unnecessary which is both costly to local authorities and not necessarily in the best interests of the child given that children in care have worst outcomes educationally than their peers.”

“Naturally there are cases where it is imperative that children are removed from the family home for their own safety where risks are too high to keep children at home. However, there are families – particularly in the current climate given their return to school following lockdown – who have struggled with health, mental health or anxieties around finances during the restrictions who may be in need of help and support to improve their parenting capacity and communication with their children to provide a safe environment for them in the family home.”

“Research has shown that 85% of all the children in state care return home to their family network or home communities within five years, and an estimated 92% return eventually. If intensive support is not carried out within the family setting to improve their parenting capacity, these children are returning to the same problems that they were taken into care for in the first place,” he added.

Chief Executive Mark Willis and Managing Director Sarah Stowe were invited to attend the launch gala in London, which was unfortunately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sarah Stowe said: “Regrettably, the gala launch was postponed due to COVID-19 but we, as an organisation, are immensely proud to have been selected to appear in such a prestigious title which celebrates best practice.”

“Our Multi-Disciplinary Family Assessment Service, which we highlight in the article, is a truly innovative way of selecting experienced professionals from a range of backgrounds including social work, psychiatry, psychology and family support, to put in place a bespoke package of support for families who are experiencing difficulties to try and introduce more effect methods of communication and intensive support to improve parenting capacity and keep families together where it is safe to do so,” she added.

Mark Willis concluded: “We are proud of our MFA service as an alternative service to costly residential assessments. We have now completed more than 20 MFA’s where we have achieved positive outcomes for children and their families. As we head towards 2021, we will continue to build on its strength and increase our expertise within psychiatrists, psychologists, family support workers and expert social workers to enable us to continue to deliver this complex area of work.”

The Parliamentary Review is sent to over 500,000 leading business executives, policy makers and other relevant individuals. In recent years, it has featured forewords by Theresa May and David Cameron.

Since the launch of the Parliamentary Review in March, Mark Willis has been repeatedly approached by the Parliamentary Review to provide commentary for the sector on pertinent issues in the social care sector and regarding its response to COVID-19. You can read Mark’s various articles here.

Read the best practice article here or here on pages 12-14.

More about our Multi-Disciplinary Family Assessment Service here.