An under-fire social services department spent nearly £1.5million on agency staff in just six months, The Argus can reveal.

A MANAGER at a care home stole more than £20,000 off two vulnerable residents, a court heard. Jackie Anderson, 46, formerly of Avondale Road, Bromley, was jailed for 15 months last Wednesday after admitting theft while working at the Elfrida Rathbone Society home in Sydenham Road, Croydon.

The owners of Birmingham’s independent sector care homes are right to complain about the meanness of the £49.34 a day they receive from city council social services to look after a frail elderly person.

Owners of Birmingham’s private care homes say they are facing “financial suicide” after the city council increased fees by only one per cent.

COUNCIL bosses say they hope to avoid redundancies at a care home that has been earmarked for closure.

A new Alzheimer’s Society guide providing vital advice on how to commission services for people with dementia and their carers in line with the National Dementia Strategy has been launched.

Sweeping changes are to be made to the way vulnerable children are protected after a toddler was murdered by his father.

OFFENSIVE email content that led to 14 Lancashire County Council workers being suspended related to the Israel Palestine conflict, it is understood.

HARROW’S child protection services are working well following the death of Baby P, a report claims.

SOCIAL services could join up with NHS care under new plans for Blackburn with Darwen. The proposals would mean that primary care trust NHS Blackburn with Darwen would be upgraded to a new-style “Care Trust Plus”, taking on the council’s social care responsibilities. It is hoped that the move would save money as well as improving services for patients and their families.