Leadership. Learning. Practice Improvement.
Helping leaders and organisations turn complexity into sustainable improvement
Claire Woodcock Consulting provides independent improvement consultancy, executive coaching and leadership development, with particular expertise in children’s services, SEND and social care.
I work with local authorities, regional partnerships, senior leaders and teams to understand complex challenges, strengthen delivery and translate strategy into practical improvement.
My approach combines the analytical rigour of management consultancy with extensive experience of education, children’s services transformation, sector-led improvement and executive coaching.
How we can work together
-
Executive Coaching
A confidential, reflective space for leaders navigating complexity, transition or increased responsibility. Executive coaching enhances leadership skills, boosts team performance, and fosters continuous improvement. For neurodiverse clients, it promotes inclusivity and leverages unique strengths, creating a more innovative and productive workplace. I work with senior and aspiring leaders across public services, education, charities and business.
-
Children's Services and SEND Improvement
Independent consultancy for local authorities and partnerships seeking to improve services and outcomes for children, young people and families. An approved consultant with the South East Sector Led Improvement programme (SESLIP) funded by Department for Education. Specialising in social care and SEND, sector-led improvement empowering local authorities and providers to collaborate, share knowledge, and develop tailored solutions, ensuring that services are more responsive to the needs of individuals and families, leading to better support, increased satisfaction, and improved overall well-being. Support is tailored to the local context. I work alongside leaders, practitioners, partners and people with lived experience to identify what is working, where change is needed and how improvement can be sustained
-
Local Government Association
As an approved peer challenge manager for the Local Government Association offering the opportunity to drive improvement and innovation in public services. It involves collaborating with diverse stakeholders, sharing best practices, and providing constructive feedback to enhance service delivery. This role fosters professional growth, strengthens community impact, and contributes to more effective and responsive local governance..
-
Coaching Supervision and Leadership Workshops
Coaching supervision ensures that coaches maintain high standards, receive ongoing support, and continuously improve their skills. Leadership workshops empower leaders with practical tools, strategies, and insights to enhance their effectiveness, drive team success, and foster a positive organisational culture. Together, they contribute to professional growth and organisational excellence. I hold an ILM Level 7 Certificate in Coaching Supervision and offer individual and group supervision.
-
Board Governance
Innovation governance can be thought of as a system of mechanisms to align goals, allocate resources and assign decision-making authority for innovation, leading to improvement across the organisation and with external partners. Good Board governance ensures strategic direction, accountability, and ethical decision-making. Effective monitoring and reporting provide transparency and track progress, while developing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) helps measure success and drive continuous improvement. Together, these practices enhance organisational performance and stakeholder trust.
-
Leadership Development and Organisational Learning
Workshops and facilitated development programmes that build leadership capability and support practical organisational improvement.
Recent areas of work include:
coaching and mentoring skills
reflective leadership
active listening and clean language
safe uncertainty and working with risk
leading through change
governance and accountability
quality assurance
Lean process improvement
collaborative problem-solving
developing learning cultures
Sessions can be designed for leadership teams, managers, practitioners, coaches, mentors or multi-agency partnerships.
Current and Recent Work
As Programme Lead for the South East Sector-Led Improvement Programme’s Targeted Support Programme, I coordinate and support improvement work across local authorities in the South East.
The programme brings together local authority leaders, regional specialists and practitioners to develop locally owned responses to SEND and children’s social care challenges.
Recent programmes and projects have focused on:
annual review processes
EHCP timeliness and decision-making
SEND support and ordinarily available provision
quality assurance
complaints
joint commissioning
co-production
data and performance
workforce development
coaching and mentoring
Lean process mapping
preparations for national SEND reform and local government reorganisation
I also work as an associate with the Local Government Association, contributing to peer challenge and sector-led improvement.
A practical and collaborative approach
Improvement rarely comes from imposing a standard answer.
I help organisations create the conditions in which people can examine practice honestly, make sense of evidence, learn from others and agree realistic action.
My work is:
Diagnostic
Understanding the underlying problem before proposing a solution.
Collaborative
Working with leaders, practitioners, partners and families rather than doing change to them.
Evidence-informed
Bringing together data, practice insight, lived experience and wider learning.
Practical
Turning ambition into clear actions, ownership and delivery.
Sustainable
Building internal capability so that improvement continues after the assignment ends.t.
Let’s talk
Whether you need support with a complex improvement programme, an independent diagnostic, leadership development or individual coaching, an initial conversation can help us clarify what would be most useful.
This would replace the current general headline and bring your children’s services work above less central services such as business start-up mentoring. Your existing homepage already refers to SESLIP, LGA peer challenge, governance and coaching supervision, so this is an evolution rather than a complete change of direction.
“Claire creates a safe yet challenging space that helps me untangle my thinking, gain clarity, and make confident decisions. Through her coaching and consulting, I’ve been able to grow my business with purpose while also feeling more balanced and at ease in myself and my relationships.”
– Clare A.
