New Independent Chair appointed to the Bradford Partnership Thu 24 Feb 2022

Janice Hawkes will take up the post in May 2022 following the retirement in January of Jane Booth, the Partnership’s previous Chair. 

Janice is currently Assistant Director of Children’s Services for Barnardo’s and is responsible for the development and management of services in Yorkshire, primarily in Bradford. Janice qualified as a social worker in 1981 and brings more than 30 years’ experience of leadership in social care in both the statutory and voluntary sectors.

The Bradford Partnership - Working Together to Safeguard Children is a multi-agency partnership established under the Children Act 2004 and subsequent legislation such as Working Together 2018. Its role is to monitor the quality and consistency of safeguarding practice and training across all our partner agencies in the Bradford District with the aim of ensuring continuous improvement in practice.

Janice Hawkes said: “I’m excited to be taking up this post. Throughout my career I have been passionate about getting the best in life for children and families and feel very privileged to be taking up this position as Chair of the Bradford Partnership. Bradford is such a dynamic and diverse district. It has the youngest population in Europe and while this can bring challenges, we have the partnerships and the staff to deliver great services. I will be working with all the agencies in our district to strengthen our collective approach to safeguarding, and to scrutinise what we do so that we deliver the services that children and families need.”

Kersten England, Chair of the Strategic Leadership Group in Bradford, said: “We welcome Janice to this role. She comes with a wealth of knowledge and experience and understands our district and the challenges and opportunities that exist here. We look forward to working with her when she takes up the post in May. I also want to say thank you on behalf of the partnership to our outgoing Chair, Jane Booth. Jane has Chaired the partnership with integrity and distinction. There have been challenging issues during her time as Chair which she never shied away from and she has held services to account providing both scrutiny and challenge always with the best interests of Bradford’s children at heart. We wish her well in her retirement.”