Unemployed young people will be offered 50,000 traineeships in the social care sector under a scheme called CareFirst, Chancellor Alistair Darling announced.

Despite the Government’s commitment to make increasing use of the third sector in delivering public services, progress has been slow. A new agreement between the Department of Health and specialist third sector organisations is set to increase the flow of contracts for health and social care services.

A CARE assistant murdered a frail dementia patient at a home by setting fire to her bed and leaving her to burn, a court has heard.

Charges for residents in Birmingham City Council care homes have rocketed by up to £183 a week – days after the local authority said it could only afford a 49p increase in the amount it pays for elderly people to be looked after in private sector residential homes.

A company which runs care homes was fined £250,000 today following the death of a resident who choked on a ham sandwich.

A man who had been found to be unfit to enter a plea to murdering a care worker in Bedfordshire has been convicted of killing her by a jury.

Now is a dangerous time in social work, because making changes at a time of crisis is often about lurching rather than learning, with opportunities for fine-tuning lost in the frenzy.

A radical revamp of adult social care will be considered by councillors at a meeting of Hampshire County Council’s cabinet on Monday.

TWO people were last night being questioned by detectives about suspected neglect at a series of care homes in an Essex town.

The Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) has announced the death of its Chairman Michael Leadbetter.