Vilified, under-resourced and struggling to cope with society’s ills, social workers are stretched to breaking point. After a month-long investigation, with unprecedented access to the human encounters at the heart of the job, Peter Ross reveals a profession in crisis . . .

Assurances over fire safety procedures provided by a care home where 14 pensioners lost their lives were accepted at “face value” by health board inspectors, an inquiry heard.

The number of crimes committed by young people in Glasgow has fallen by almost a third in the past two years. And a new report shows the amount of serious violent offences committed by teenagers in the city has dropped by 11%.

A Labour councillor has claimed approving a redesign of adult social care services before the draft Older People’s Strategy was putting “the cart before the horse.”

Dumfries & Galloway’s social work department has been accused of being “deliberately misleading” by an organisation involved with a Castle Douglas care home.

Almost 32,000 council jobs could be lost in Scotland in the next four years, it has been predicted. Glasgow City Council is negotiating a raft of stinging cuts and redundancies, with more than 2,000 staff opting for redundancy deals.

Controversial plans to extend a proposed care home for the elderly have been shelved with developers withdrawing an appeal to Holyrood ministers just weeks before their 30-bed project was due to go to a public inquiry.

FOSTER carers in North Ayrshire are to receive between £400 and £550 a week to look after vulnerable youngsters.

A new £2.65m child protection unit for Dundee is to be built at Kings Cross Hospital. It will replace the existing unit at Seymour Lodge and house staff involved in child protection from the city council’s social work department, Tayside Police and NHS Tayside.

A threatened support service for adults with learning needs has gained a stay of execution after a placard-carrying protest by a group of vulnerable people in the Western Isles.