New Year's Honours List 2020: Council worker who improved lives in Scarborough is honoured

Janice Nicholson, who has played a key role in the success of No Wrong Door for North Yorkshire County Council, has been awarded an MBE for services to children.

She has been recognised in the New Year’s Honours list for her work on improving the life chances of children with challenging backgrounds.

Ms Nicholson is the strategic lead for No Wrong Door, a ground-breaking programme which aims to support young people from difficult backgrounds, which has now been recognised as a national leader which is being duplicated by other local authorities.

Her career with the County Council began in 1995, as a residential worker before becoming a registered manager of a home, when work began on developing innovative new services for looked after children.

That work started to pick up awards and in 2014 the authority made a successful bid for Department of Education funding to progress that work further, ‘rethinking care for adolescents’ was provided.

It resulted in two hubs being formed, in Harrogate and Scarborough, to provide a range of services for adolescents in and on the edge of care.

“The work has been successfully evaluated and it has continued to grow,” said Janice.

The County Council has since been granted funding to develop the No Wrong Door programme with six other authorities, including Middlesbrough and Rochdale, with the model being adopted and adapted to suit local needs.

“We are sharing the good practice from North Yorkshire County Council with other areas,” she said.

The No Wrong Door scheme provides opportunities for adolescents with complex challenges to stay in their home community and county, rather than being moved to other areas to receive specialist services.