Residential care providers must join forces with their competitors to stop local authorities from pricing them out of business, a senior children’s lawyer has warned.

Councils should expect to be subjected to a new era of scrutiny by the under-construction National College of Social Work, a leading sector voice has warned.

Elizabeth Hall has been appointed to the post of Safeguarding Adviser for the Church of England and the Methodist Church in Britain. Hall replaces the Rev Pearl Luxon, who will be leaving the role in September to become an independent safeguarding consultant.

A hung parliament could lead to better policies for children and young people, leading figures in the sector have claimed. With the nation due to go to the polls on Thursday, speculation that no one party will gain an overall majority has resulted in talk of the possibility of a coalition government.

THIS country is failing to care properly for its old and vulnerable people. We need a fully costed, funded and sustainable strategy for providing high quality care to people who need it, including provision for the increasing number of people living with dementia.

Cumbria County Council announced in January its plans to close four existing Barrow care homes and replace them with a new state-of-the-art facility.