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.

Improved supervision is the aim of a step-by-step workforce development tool that has been designed by Skills for Care and the Children’s Workforce Development Council.

Private nurseries are being forced out of business due to an oversupply of places created by state-funded nurseries and day care centres, it was claimed yesterday.

A disturbing picture of the abuse and neglect suffered by elderly people in care homes and hospitals is revealed today in a parliamentary report.

A senior police officer yesterday issued a devastating critique of the way towns were being blighted by violent, drunken youths who had made people afraid to walk the streets.
 

A young woman whose baby girl was found by her stabbed to death had been assessed by social services five days previously, but was found to not be suffering from any mental health disorder and allowed to keep the child.

A convicted sex offender who admitted attacking a 15-year-old girl after being allowed to end therapy early has been jailed indefinitely.

A nationwide search is under way to find two convicted sex offenders who pose a danger to children. Joseph Taylor, 27, and William Bailey, 58, were recently released from prison and are known to have links with North Yorkshire and Essex.