Women in leadership: Spotlight on Jo Britton, Executive Director of Children’s and Family Services, Telford & Wrekin Council

An impressive career transforming Children’s Services

Jo Britton is the Executive Director of Children’s and Family Services at Telford & Wrekin Council, having stepped up to the role in June 2020 from her previous post as Director of Safeguarding and Family Support at the authority – a position she had held since 2015.

Jo has almost 30 years’ experience with Children and Young People Services, having previously worked at Wolverhampton City Council, Staffordshire County Council and Cafcass.
Since taking up the Director post in 2015, Jo has been at the forefront of steering Telford and Wrekin children’s services and Family Support to an Ofsted outstanding rating.

In 2021, the Municipal Journal (MJ) named Jo the Corporate Director of the Year - acknowledging her “clear and ambitious vision” leading the journey from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘outstanding’ across Telford and Wrekin children’s services, “engaging passion for improving services” and the positive culture within her team.

Recognising the workforce as the most precious resource

Jo’s values are very much about collaboration. She inspires and motivates her team with her infectious drive to be the very best they can, by continually improving the outcomes for children and families in Telford and Wrekin.

Despite the pressures of an Executive Director role, Jo maintains strong relationships with front line staff. She listens to the workforce, welcomes new ideas and open conversations, to discuss what is going well, what could be done differently and ways to improve staff wellbeing and retention within the authority.

Jo has personally driven a strategic approach to workforce development, providing a creative and varied training programme, implementing systemic practice as an overarching practice framework and introducing a Social Work Progression Framework to support career progression for the Council’s practitioners.

A role model within the organisation, empowering women into leadership

Not only does Jo drive Telford and Wrekin children’s services offer, she has also adopted a role in empowering and inspiring women within the Council.

With a hugely successful career in local government, Jo shared her experiences and insight and took questions from an audience of more than 200 staff when she was a panel member on the Council’s International Women’s Day webinar in 2021.

Our staff found her career development “very inspirational” and “uplifting”, commenting that “it’s great to see such positive female role models in senior leadership roles.”

Jo has also taken on Telford & Wrekin Council’s equality and diversity agenda, co-chairing the Council’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion task force, championing equality both within the organisation and externally.

Tips for other women that want to get into leadership – from Jo

“Be truly passionate about your work, put your team ahead of yourself and recognise your staff and colleagues as your most precious resource in driving improvements while inspiring and motivating them along the way”.