At the heart of this work is the Camden Safeguarding and Social Work (CSSW) Performance App: a Power BI dashboard that provides instant access to service data, trends, and due tasks.
Created to boost productivity across children's services, the app has been designed with usability in mind. It supports smarter, more timely interventions across the borough. With over 31,000 views by 170 users in the last three-month reporting period, the dashboards are clearly of value to practitioners in Camden.
Below, the LSWC team chat to Adele Ellis and Sam Crocombe from Camden to learn more about how the borough is using technology to empower practitioners.
The app is embedded within Camden's centralised data hub, which provides a one-stop shop for reports, insights, applications, benchmarking, and guidance.
The hub has been a gamechanger for onboarding new staff and reducing administrative burdens. But more than that, it gives decision makers a clearer view of where services are making an impact, and where further attention might be needed.
The dashboards support curious, analytical social work practice. They help practitioners explore the story behind the numbers, providing a clear line of sight to the lived experience of children and families. This has enabled more adaptive services, and the efficiency provided has ultimately led to better outcomes for children and families.
Looking ahead, Camden is now making further enhancements the CSSW performance app. The borough is in the process of designing a disproportionality dashboard, across all services, including Early Help and the Youth Justice Service. This will enable a meta perspective, and the ability to consider key areas of focus for innovation to stymy structural inequalities.
Adele and Sam from London Borough of Camden were invited to exhibit this project at the Practice Spotlight markretplace exhibition during the 2025 London Children’s Services Summit. In a packed Guildhall, leaders and partners from across the capital came together to celebrate innovation and collaboration.
Practice Spotlight shines a light on the most innovative and impactful work happening across London’s Children’s Services. Led by the London Innovation and Improvement Alliance (LIIA), the initiative drew over 100 submissions across 9 themes:
Explore social work in Camden below to become part of a borough that puts insight and impact at the heart of its practice.