Social services and police “missed opportunities” to stop the sexual abuse of young girls in Rochdale, a report into a grooming scandal has revealed.

Victims of a child sex ring may take legal action against the authorities for failing to protect them after a damning report laid bare the extent of their failings.

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) strongly welcomes today’s report into why professionals in the Rochdale area failed to stop the sexual abuse of young girls, between 2007 and 2011.

The concept of ‘careship’ – a combination of care and leadership – could become the sector’s quality mark, by Simon Cotterrell

Victims of the Rochdale sex grooming gang have engaged a top lawyer to look at taking action against the authorities for failing to protect them.

MAKING the decision to move a relative into a care home is a tough one for many families. Inspections are designed to help people choose homes with confidence, but information we publish today shows that homes in Notts are performing worse than in any other county in the East Midlands.

A London borough which was forced to pay out damages to a father after his autistic son was illegally removed from his care have threatened to withdraw the family’s housing benefit.

Peterborough City Council has announced the appointment of a new executive director of children’s services. Sue Westcott, currently assistant director for safeguarding families and communities, will take up the position from January 2013.

Britain’s fragile economy is losing more than £5bn a year as a result of a growing crisis in social care funding aggravated by the Government’s austerity measures.

The new care services minister Norman Lamb has said he wants the adult social care funding crisis to be resolved in months, rather than years.