TWO council-run care homes could be closed and 58 jobs put at risk in a £1 million cost-cutting exercise.

A SUPPORT worker who stole nearly £15,000 from vulnerable residents has been jailed for 18 months.

Nearly one in five secondary school children in the UK has been severely abused or neglected during childhood, an NSPCC study has found.

THE head of adult social services is to leave Kent County Council after 23 years. Oliver Mills will be leaving the council at the end of March.

A COUNCIL has been blasted as “farcical” for mailing a tough questionnaire to people in the advanced stages of dementia.

Nearly three quarters of social workers based in adult services have suffered emotional or mental health problems because of the stresses of the job, a survey by BASW – College of Social Work has found.

The government’s plans to reform legal aid are in danger of pushing many vulnerable individuals to the margins of society, BASW/CoSW has warned.

The Department of Health (DH) has revised guidance to protect integrated health and social care arrangements only days after it was published, but there are fears it has not gone far enough.

NEWCASTLE University’s Business School has been selected to lead a £2m groundbreaking study into health and social care provision for the UK’s ageing population.

Plans to change the way social care workers are regulated must take into account the needs of people who use these services and of those who work in them, says Melanie Henwood