The chair of the Social Work Taskforce has said its final report could not recommend a cap on social workers’ caseloads because of the current pressures on the workforce.

Ministers have admitted it will take “years” to transform the demoralised social work profession and regain public trust in their work as they unveiled sweeping reforms to the sector.

Newly disclosed court documents suggest Ofsted inspectors who wrote a damning report on Haringey children’s services were ordered to delete emails relating to Baby Peter and the council, a high court judge disclosed today.

The final report of the Social Work Taskforce was published yesterday with strong government support for its recommendations. This gives me confidence that the changes necessary to transform the practice of social work will now begin to happen.

Guidelines will be introduced to ensure all social workers have manageable workloads, high quality supervision and time for professional training, the children’s secretary, Ed Balls, and the health secretary, Andy Burnham, will announce later today.

Isle of Wight social care staff gathered at County Hall this morning (Tuesday) in a protest over proposed changes to their car allowance scheme.

The number of children suspected of being at risk in their family homes in the Bradford district has soared as a direct result of the death of Baby P.

Social workers who abused children were left free to carry on working because of critical failings by the watchdog in charge of them, an inquiry has found.

A national college of social work is to be established to give new leadership to a profession that has yet to recover from the Baby P tragedy a year ago.

The government is to intervene in Warrington’s children’s services after an Ofsted inspection found its safeguarding services to be inadequate.