Essex County Council has won a landmark ruling in the High Court against the Department for Education over cuts to early years education and funding.

The funding gap for reforming social care in England could be plugged by raiding the NHS surplus or restricting access to benefits such as the winter fuel allowance, experts say.

Middle class pensioners should pay extra taxes or lose benefits such as winter fuel allowances and bus passes to help pay for the cost of care in old age, a leading health think-tank has suggested.

Health experts have called for more public funds to be found to help vulnerable older people Health experts have called for more public funds to be found to help vulnerable older people

People in Herefordshire could face increased charges for a range of social services, under plans put forward by the county council.

A DAUGHTER has hit out at a nursing home which has nearly trebled the price of her mother’s care to almost £10,000 a month.

A support group for carers in Leicestershire and Rutland will be forced to close in July if it cannot raise £25,000, a spokesman said.

NOTTS is facing a major shortage of care workers to look after elderly and vulnerable people.

Local authorities are acting more quickly to keep vulnerable children safe, research has found. The study by Cafcass, the organisation that represents children in care cases, is an updated version of the one carried out in 2009 in the wake of the death of Baby P.

Children in care are three times more likely to run away than those living at home; many are being failed by the systems that are supposed to protect them, by Enver Solomon