The East Midlands RIIA is dedicated to fostering continuous improvement through peer review, constructive challenge, and mutual support. Its goal is to help all ten local areas enhance how they identify and meet the needs of children, young people, and their families.

A Core Peer Challenge Offer has been developed and endorsed by the region’s Directors of Children’s Services. Each local authority has the flexibility to decide how deeply they engage with this offer. A similar offer is available for the SEND and AP services in the East Midlands Local Authorities. The core components include:

Biennial Regional Children’s Social Care Peer Challenge

  • This biennial, one-day, in-person event brings together DCSs and senior leaders nominated by them to engage in a structured challenge activity.
  • Before the event, LAs are grouped into triads, with each triad supported by an independent consultant.
  • In collaboration with their assigned consultant, each LA develops key lines of enquiry and shares them with the other members of their triad.
  • During the event, each LA is responsible for taking their own notes and completing a standard template that outlines agreed actions and next steps. This will serve as the foundation for their improvement plan.
  • Following the event, the Lead Consultant and RIIA Programme Manager will produce a summary report. This will include recommendations for addressing identified challenges and promoting LA-to-LA support.
  • Progress on the agreed actions will be monitored through the appropriate Tier 2 regional groups.

The next biennial peer review is scheduled for March 2026. A detailed programme will be shared in the Autumn.

Thematic Peer Challenge

  • Thematic peer challenge offers a flexible format, ranging from a few hours to a full-day session, depending on the topic and the number of participating Local Authorities. These events may be held either in person or online.
  • Each LA will nominate officers best suited to participate, based on the theme being explored.
  • The focus of each event is a single area of practice, with key lines of enquiry shared with participants in advance.
  • During the event, each LA is responsible for taking its own notes and, afterwards, submitting a completed ‘next steps’ template to the RIIA Programme Manager.
  • The RIIA Coordinator, in collaboration with the relevant Tier 2 regional group, will produce a brief summary of emerging themes and proposed next steps. This group will also oversee progress monitoring.

The current themes for consideration include: Reduction of Harm, Reforms Implementation, Abuse and Violence and Partnership Engagement. More suggestions are welcome.

Local Authority Level Peer Challenge (on-demand)

  • RIIA offers Local Authorities the opportunity to request a peer challenge focused on a specific area of service. These reviews may span one or two days, depending on the scope.
  • The requesting LA will identify a primary key line of enquiry, which will guide a deep dive into the selected area of practice.
  • The RIIA Programme Manager will assemble a review team, which may include a SDSA colleague for project support, officers from other LAs, and independent experts if needed.
  • The review team will carry out a series of agreed activities, such as case sampling and focused discussions aligned with the key line of enquiry.
  • The host LA will be responsible for organising the schedule, including room bookings, site visits, and access to case records and key personnel
  • After the review, the lead reviewer will present the key findings and recommendations to the host LA.

A Local Authority-level peer challenge focused on Children’s Commissioning Services was conducted at Nottingham City Council during July and August.

To explore the Peer Challenge offer in more detail, suggest a topic for a thematic peer challenge, or request a peer challenge at the LA level, please contact the RIIA Programme Manager, Khalid, at khalid.mahmood@sdsa.net.