Paul Shallcross - Director of Safeguarding and Care

Paul joined Gloucestershire County Council as Director of Safeguarding and Care in June 2023. Prior to qualifying as a social worker in 2000, Paul worked in a number of children’s homes, and is keen to emphasise how important this experience was.

“Helping to care for children who can’t be with their families has had a huge impact on my understanding of the social work role. Seeing how hard it is for children to adjust to living away from home motivates me to support my staff to do everything they can to keep children safely in in their families and their communities. And where we do have to find new homes for children, we have to take our role as corporate parents seriously. Children in our care are part of our Gloucestershire family, and it’s our job to make their lives as happy and productive as we can.”

Paul is keen to emphasise the clear value base which underpins his work as a social care leader.  “Working with children is a challenging but hugely rewarding job. For me, it has to be based on building respectful working relationships with families, giving them the skills and autonomy to manage their own lives, and creating a strong supportive culture for our colleagues.

Paul started his social work career in Leeds, moving to Bristol, then Somerset, where he spent 14 years in a variety of leadership roles in safeguarding and in quality assurance. He played a key role in helping to move Somerset children’s social care from a failing inadequate service in 2015, to one which was judged Good across the board by Ofsted in 2022.

Paul is passionate about transforming children’s social care in Gloucestershire.

 “I know I can apply much of the learning from Somerset to help us get children’s services in Gloucestershire to Good, and Outstanding in coming years.

“We are currently working on an exciting project to remodel and transform children’s services, which will help us on our improvement journey.

“There really is a great base to build on here. We have a class leading social work academy and have invested heavily in systemic training for our workforce.

“We are an attractive destination for newly qualified social workers and our improving quality of work was noted by Ofsted in their inspection in 2022, and again in 2023 in a Joint targeted Area Inspection (JTAI) report.”

“Gloucestershire really is a great place to work and I have been struck by how friendly and welcoming everyone is. There is a respectful and nurturing culture, high performing supportive teams, and strong, consistent support from officers and elected members.”

Outside work, Paul is huge fan of Leeds United, despite acknowledging the often fruitless nature of this pursuit. He also enjoys walking with his family, eating out and a wide variety of music.

Take a look at our Children's Workforce Development Strategy