The courts have been officially warned that teenagers who breach their Asbos should not normally be jailed and that “excessive” sentences should not be passed on adult offenders in similar circumstances.

{mosimage}The proposals from the official body that lays down guidelines on sentencing come after latest figures show that 46% of the 7,500 people successfully prosecuted for breaching their antisocial behaviour orders in 2005 were jailed.

The sentencing advisory panel, in its proposals for new guidelines to the courts for dealing with Asbo breaches, says that in most cases involving young offenders the appropriate sentence should be a community order.

The judges, police and prosecutors on the panel say that jail should only be considered for young people if their breach involved serious harassment, alarm or distress, or if there had been a series of serious breaches.

“In principle custody should be used less frequently for youths, so the threshold should be set at a higher level than the custody threshold for adults,” says the panel’s consultation proposals, published yesterday. “Even where the custody threshold is crossed a custodial sentence will not be inevitable. The younger the offender the more likely that perseverance with community orders will be more effective than detention in preventing re-offending.”

Increasing the basic pay of care workers, ensuring they get sick pay and a pension and are properly checked for work should set new minimum standards and start to address the real problems in caring for Britain’s elderly with dignity, according to Britain’s largest union Unite.

{mosimage}The union went public with its frustrations following the publication of Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights report on elderly care and the extension of the government’s ‘Dignity Champions’ scheme to mental health.

Jack Dromey, Unite deputy general secretary, said the union, which has a growing membership in the care sector believed ministers and MPs have missed a key element by ignoring the vital issues of how staff are recruited, paid and looked after by employers. “The human rights of the elderly are important but the employment rights of those who look after them are being compromised,” he said. “It is right for the government to herald ‘Dignity Champions’ but care workers need dignity too.”

Following the successful “Keep Bristol Home Care” campaign against privatisation, the union is gathering evidence of how care is provided in the private sector.

Mr. Dromey said early reports showed systematic attacks on pay, terms and conditions lay at the heart of the problem. The profit motive and persistent pressure to privatise means pay, terms and conditions are being driven down leading to staff turnover going up and chronic social care staff shortages.

Corners are being cut on security checks and aptitude for the job, which is caring and intimate but often physically and emotionally demanding. Poor pay, with many on the minimum wage, and no sick pay meant care workers were forced to work whilst ill themselves. Unite said this put the elderly and vulnerable at further risk.

Residents of care homes due to close will still be given care, Bromley council has promised. Six care homes are due to close as part of a move away from residential care and towards a mix of services, aimed at giving more support to people living independently.

Opposition parties have condemned the government for failing to protect frail elderly patients entrusted into the care of national health services.

Six whistle-blowers sacked by a council for revealing a series of alleged management failures in children’s homes have received an out-of-court settlement, the council has confirmed.

Around 90 per cent of care homes can ignore the Human Rights Act, according to Help the Aged. The law, which came into force in October 2000, gives residents of council-run homes the right to take cases of abuse and neglect to court.

Researchers have revealed that prescribing some medicines to elderly people in order to stave off illnesses could just mean changing the nature of diseases and reduce life quality overall.

Britain’s largest trade union today blamed poor pay for the neglect and abuse of elderly people in care homes. Jack Dromey, the deputy general secretary of Unite, said the profit motive was at the heart of the ill treatment of elderly people.

Politicians and drinks manufacturers have dismissed a call by a chief constable to raise the legal drinking age to 21. Peter Fahy, of Cheshire police, said raising the limit would send “a clear message about the dangers” of alcohol.

About £80m a year could be saved by providing better support for young offenders leaving jail, a report says. Research by the resettlement project Reset and charity Rainer argues that providing housing and training is cuts further crime so it is cost-effective.