Chief social worker for children named

A former practitioner who helped to transform children's services in Hackney by introducing a new approach to structuring teams has been named chief social worker for children in England by the Department for Education.

Isabelle Trowler will work alongside her adults counterpart Lyn Romeo to improve performance in social work, lead reform in the profession and champion and spread best practice from this autumn.

During her time as assistant director for children's social care in the London Borough of Hackney from 2006 to 2011, Trowler co-founded Reclaiming Social Work, now commonly referred to as the "Hackney model".

The model saw Hackney move from having traditional social work teams to units, which each comprised a consultant social worker, social worker, a child practitioner, a clinical therapist and an administrator. Other councils have since adopted a similar approach.