Herefordshire Council has appointed a Corporate Director of Children and Young People. Tina Russell will join the council on July 1, 2024 on a fixed term contract until the end of March 2025, and will be driving forward the Children’s Services Improvement Programme at an increased pace.

This appointment follows the former director for children and young people services, Darryl Freeman, resigning with immediate effect last week. 

This move coincided with official criticism of the department in the latest Ofsted monitoring report which concluded “plans to improve services had not led to sufficient positive impact” for older children and those who had left the service.

Paul Walker, Herefordshire Council’s Chief Executive, said: “I’m pleased to confirm that we have appointed Tina Russell for this position.

 “Tina is an experienced Director of Children’s Services and is currently the Chief Executive of Worcestershire Children First. She has extensive experience in both front line and leadership roles across a broad range of children’s services. Her experience in delivering quality children’s services within a safeguarding partnership has been instrumental in taking Worcestershire from an Ofsted rating of Inadequate to Good.

 “I’m confident that Tina’s wealth of experience as a Director of Children’s Services and strong track record of leading improvement will enable us to achieve our ambition of delivering the best possible social care services to our children and families in Herefordshire.”