A council which stopped funding a scheme supporting vulnerable families says its children’s services must save £5.1m over the next year.

The responsibility for social care in Wokingham will be handed over to a private company as the council takes steps to commission more of its services to outside bodies.

MORE than 500 adult social services staff are among those leaving the council it has been revealed.

More than a third of social work students are experiencing placements they regard as irrelevant to social work and a similar amount are unable to secure a statutory position, according to a BASW – The College of Social Work poll that reveals widespread concerns about the quality of on-the-job training.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told the Sandhall Park Nursing and Residential Home that it is failing to meet essential standards in quality and safety and must take action to address concerns over care and welfare.

TWO Hertfordshire County Council social workers have been disciplined for serious professional failings, with one struck off and the other suspended.

All children’s homes are to undergo unannounced inspections from 1 April, under Ofsted’s inspection framework launched today.

MORE than 22,000 jobs are on offer every month in the busy world of social care – and the numbers keep rising.

The government has been accused of penalising the most vulnerable in society by campaigners after it froze the threshold for social care help.

A former social worker has been appointed to head up Sandwell’s struggling children’s social care department.