Six new social workers are being recruited in Bristol to deal with an increase in child protection work.

Gun, knife and gang crime are “inextricably linked” to mental health problems among young people, according to Barnardo’s.

The West London Alliance (WLA) boroughs, providing services to over 1.4m residents, has agreed to collaborate on the procurement and commissioning of Adult Care Services, which have an estimated value of £220 million per year.

Social workers are to be instructed to check the contents of families’ fridges, take pictures inside the home and ensure pets are healthy when investigating suspected child abuse cases.

A peer who headed inquiries into two high profile child abuse cases has opened an academy for social workers.

A Plymouth nursery worker and two other people she met online have admitted a series of child sex abuse charges. Vanessa George, Angela Allen, from Nottingham, and Colin Blanchard, from Rochdale, all 39, had never met in person before they appeared in court.

Care services have been joined up by charities to help vulnerable adults with multiple needs. The Making Every Adult Matter coalition said services often struggled to deal with multiple care needs and failings in the system were causing the inefficient use of public funds and social exclusion.

Liverpool is recruiting dozens more child social workers to support the city’s most vulnerable families. The city council is spending an extra £1.7 million a year creating 31 new posts to protect the city’s most at-risk youngsters.

A SOCIAL worker who was sacked by the council faces being struck off if she is found guilty of misconduct at a hearing this week.

The NSPCC has urged the government to better support social workers to identify cases of childhood neglect, and to ensure children in troubled households are properly seen and heard.