In his keynote speech to the BASW annual conference, chief executive Hilton Dawson paid tribute to the thousands of professionals who stood up for fact that every social worker across the UK should have access to a College of Social Work.

A care leaver who is co-director of an organisation that helps young people involved in gangs told delegates that social workers are viewed in the same light as the police in some areas.

The coalition government today outlined more than £6bn of immediate spending cuts, most of which will be used to reduce Britain’s £156bn fiscal deficit, which is now the highest in the EU.

THE boss of Staffordshire Social Services has denied any blame over the two children found dead in a Spanish hotel room. Court officials say Lianne Smith, 43, has confessed to suffocating her children Rebecca, five, and Daniel, 11 months, at the resort of Lloret de Mar last Tuesday.

Ministers today pledged to urgently overhaul Britain’s “unsustainable” social care system and tackle a growing problem which the Labour government did little to address during its time in office.

Momentum for reforming the adult social care system is waning after the issue was not mentioned in last week’s coalition agreement, campaigners have said.