A rehabilitation unit for mental health patients is to be axed. Park House – a 12-bed unit on Bowers Avenue, Davyhulme – will be replaced by a community rehabilitation service.

Britain has replaced France as the top destination for asylum-seekers among all 27 EU countries, according to figures released in Brussels yesterday.

The Association of Lawyers for Children has serious concerns over the revised Children Act Guidance and Regulations that are intended to run alongside the forthcoming Public Law Outline.

Parents are “ill-equipped” to keep their children safe from violent and damaging influences on the internet, the Government said on Tuesday.

A distraught father killed himself and his disabled son by driving his car into a harbour the day after his wife died.

The fine given to a care home firm after a resident died in a hot bath has been criticised by the authority which brought the prosecution.

Some of the most vulnerable children in Britain are at risk because of a nationwide shortage of suitable social workers, the co-president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services has warned.

{mosimage}In some parts of the country, the shortage is so bad that local authorities are paying for officials to travel abroad to find experienced staff. Other councils have resorted to paying new employees ‘golden hellos’ and awarding bursaries to undergraduates to encourage them to complete their social work degrees.

‘There is an overall shortage of qualified children’s social workers across Britain and that shortage is particularly felt in the most complex of cases, involving the care of children in care, children with severe disabilities and those working in child protection,’ said John Coughlan, who is also director of children’s services at Hampshire county council. ‘Obviously, this shortage could create risks for those children.’

There is no central record of the level of shortages, but Coughlan says the problem is widespread. He points to the situation in Birmingham as representative of urban areas across the country. The city has 16 vacancies despite extensive efforts to fill them.

The situation is so acute that its vulnerable children overview and scrutiny committee has recently been forced to introduce three recruitment initiatives and is considering more.

‘Some undergraduates studying social work in Birmingham now receive funding for their final year at university, while any qualified social worker will be awarded a bonus of £1,000 at the end of their first year of work here,’ said the committee chairman, Keith Barton.

An award ceremony held to recognise the kind and selfless work carers offer to their loved ones was held in Exeter yesterday.

A care worker from Gloucestershire admitted stealing cash from an autism sufferer he was looking after. David Merrett, 25, of Highfields, Dursley, stole £1,356.21 from Derek Martin, who he was caring for at Slade Autistic Home in Dursley, Stroud Magistrates’ Court heard.

Nine of Britain’s biggest cities are banding together this winter to test the continental idea of Light Nights as an antidote to the drinking culture that has swamped the notion of 24-hour cities.