A CONTROVERSIAL £4million residential care unit for teenagers with mental health problems looks set to open by the end of next year.

Social workers should be able to complain without being sacked, and be allowed make practice mistakes in a supportive learning environment, says Liz Davies

A toddler was approached by a woman claiming to be from social services in what police have called a “suspicious incident” in Abingdon.

Doncaster agencies failed to follow basic procedures in case of Amy Howson, who died when her spine was snapped by her father, says inquiry report.

A council will have to foot a £750,000 legal bill for a court case in which a disgraced social worker lied, leading to her criminal past being exposed.

There is a widespread lack of awareness about social care, confusion about how services are funded and a lack of preparation or planning for future care needs. These are the key findings from research by the Institute for Public Policy Research and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Vulnerable children could be missing out on care home placements because local authorities are capping places, a leading residential care expert has claimed.

The average UK council has more than one-in-10 social work posts vacant while one English authority has a vacancy rate of almost 40%, new research has found.

An older people’s charity has called for “radical reform” to tackle what it calls a growing care crisis facing the elderly, their families and carers.

There is a broad consensus, which includes the government, that the present system of social care funding is untenable. Yet with the publication of the green paper expected next week, there is little agreement or clarity about how social care should be funded for the future, with minimal evidence-based discussion about what will actually work. Instead, the preoccupation remains with satisfying short-term political and economic considerations.