Barnet Council has been fined £70,000 for losing highly sensitive and confidential information on 15 vulnerable children and young people.

Plans to help keep elderly people active by encouraging interests such as gardening are set to be a key plank of the long-awaited Government shake-up of social care, the care minister has signalled.

Social workers have issued a stark warning about the “dire” state of the profession nearly five years after the death of Baby Peter Connelly, as service cuts increase caseloads and prevent social workers spending vital time with vulnerable children and adults.

There is an urgent need to reform funding of adult social services to ensure the needs of an increasing number of elderly residents are met,  London Councils warned today.

Government also removes equality watchdog’s obligation to consider policy impact on poor and downgrades role of chair

Older and disabled people suffer postcode lottery over fees as numbers who have home care paid by local council fall 11%

Andrea Sutcliffe, of the Social Care Institute for Excellence, on funding cuts, maintaining a diverse talent pool and its new website for people looking for social care

Over-the-counter HIV tests that would allow people to check in the privacy of their homes if they have the virus have moved a step closer in the US.

BASW has called for a “sustained governmental commitment” to child protection following the publication of a serious case review examining the circumstances prior to the murder of five-year-old Tyler Whelan, which identified a number of systemic failures throughout the period leading up to his death in March 2011.

Child protection agencies missed “numerous opportunities” in the care of a five-year-old boy murdered by his mother’s partner, a report has said.