Action is required by the government over the payment of social care personal budgets, according to a representative from the Saga Group.

The coalition government’s bid to create a “Big Society” could pose a severe threat to services for children and young people, professionals have warned.

The coalition government is to introduce a bill that will attempt to devolve greater powers to councils and neighbourhoods and give local communities more control over housing and planning decisions.

THE boss of Staffordshire Social Services has denied any blame over the two children found dead in a Spanish hotel room. Court officials say Lianne Smith, 43, has confessed to suffocating her children Rebecca, five, and Daniel, 11 months, at the resort of Lloret de Mar last Tuesday.

Two social workers involved in the Baby Peter case have admitted failing to follow procedures to protect him in the months before his death.

Social workers tasked with caring for a severely disabled girl who hanged herself in her bedroom were poorly trained and overworked, a report found today.

In his keynote speech to the BASW annual conference, chief executive Hilton Dawson paid tribute to the thousands of professionals who stood up for fact that every social worker across the UK should have access to a College of Social Work.

A care leaver who is co-director of an organisation that helps young people involved in gangs told delegates that social workers are viewed in the same light as the police in some areas.

The coalition government today outlined more than £6bn of immediate spending cuts, most of which will be used to reduce Britain’s £156bn fiscal deficit, which is now the highest in the EU.

Momentum for reforming the adult social care system is waning after the issue was not mentioned in last week’s coalition agreement, campaigners have said.