Council leader's heart attack inspires local cardiac rehab
Call for stronger enforcement to prevent vape and nicotine ‘loopholes’
Essex CC accepts recommendations after SEND transport failures
Hackney investigates food safety at Shoreditch House
Social Care Crisis: What local government needs to know
Councils are £715m over budget and PM Andy Burnham says social care reform is essential to stop the NHS collapsing — here's what it means for local government.
Social care swallows record share of council budgets
30/09/2026 Sixteen English councils spent more than 80% of their core funding on adult and children's social care last year, new analysis has revealed. |
Cooper pledges up to 1,000 Sure Start centres over next two years
30/09/2026 Health and social care secretary Yvette Cooper has announced the extension of Sure Start services over the next two years. |
Burnham promises to build a National Care Service
29/09/2026 Prime Minister has pledged to build a free at the point of need, National Care Service. |
Government lifts improvement notice on Liverpool children's services
29/09/2026 The Government has formally lifted an improvement notice on Liverpool CC's children's services, three years after the department was rated inadequate. |
Downgrading councils who use illegal children's homes holds sector to 'unattainable standard'
29/09/2026 Ofsted proposals to downgrade councils that use unregistered placements would hold local authorities (LAs) to an ‘unattainable standard', care chiefs say. |
Cancer causing chemical found in town near factory
28/09/2026 A cancer causing chemical has been found in residents of Thornton Cleveleys in Lancashire. |
Burnham to develop clear plan for National Care Service
28/09/2026 Prime Minister Andy Burnham has vowed to set out a clear plan for a National Care Service that will be put to the public at the next General Election. |
Call for better support for unpaid carers
28/09/2026 Three in four (73%) people think that the health and social care system would fail to function without unpaid carers. |
Adult social care complaints up 22%
23/09/2026 Complaints about adult social care in England rose 22% last year, according to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO). |
Council launches campaign challenging femicide myths
21/09/2026 Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council has launched a campaign to challenge misconceptions about who commits femicide. |
Quarter of a million 'teen hermits' in England, think tank warns
21/09/2026 A quarter of a million 15-year-olds in England hardly ever leave their bedrooms except for school, according to a new report. |
Stoke-on-Trent SEND team praised as support plans issued faster
21/09/2026 More children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Stoke-on-Trent are receiving support sooner, according to the city council. |
York Council awarded national role in children’s services improvement
15/09/2026 The Department for Education has selected City of York Council as a Children’s Social Care Improvement Team (CIT). |
Charity calls for new strategy to support care leaver workforce
07/09/2026 Two-thirds of councils don't require Personal Advisers for care leavers to have any accredited training or qualifications, research has found. |
Watchdogs to inspect how agencies protect children from neglect
04/09/2026 Inspectors are to carry out a new round of checks on how councils, police and health services respond to neglect among England's youngest children. |
Government rows back on plans to exclude councils from ICBs
02/09/2026 Plans to exclude councils from ICBs have been scrapped by the Government. |
Scrap freeze on social care support threshold, says think-tank
02/09/2026 The Government has been urged to bring the threshold for social care support in line with inflation as part of reforms. |
Human Rights committee calls for reform of social care system
26/08/2026 Over 84,000 children across England are currently being looked after by councils, research has found. |
Dudley heavily criticised by Ofsted
25/08/2026 Children's services provided by Dudley MBC have been heavily criticised by Ofsted. |
Three in four school menus breach food standards
24/08/2026 More than three-quarters of secondary school menus in England fail to meet current food standards, according to new research from campaign group Bite Back. |
London faces £36bn-a-year climate bill by 2050s, report warns
20/08/2026 Extreme heat and climate change could cost London up to £36bn a year by the 2050s without further action, according to a new report. |
London ULEZ proves effective in supporting children’s lung growth
19/08/2026 Raised air quality standards due to London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) have been linked to better lung growth in children, research has found. |
EXCLUSIVE: Lib Dems set out three tests for cross-party social care talks
18/08/2026 Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Helen Morgan has set out three tests for cross-party social care reform talks with the Government. |
North Devon Council to stage ‘special meeting’ amid maternity unit closure concerns
13/08/2026 North Devon Council is to stage a ‘special meeting’ next week amid concerns around the temporary closure ‘with little notice’ of the area’s maternity unit. |
Urgent call for stronger protections for migrant nursing staff
07/08/2026 Research has found that migrant nursing staff in the social care sector are being exploited by employers, with unethical practices around visa sponsorship having been exposed. |
159 new NHS mental health centres to open
07/08/2026 159 mental health facilities will open from autumn, backed by £343m in what officials call the biggest overhaul of mental health services in a generation. |
Four arrested as 4-tonne illegal meat haul seized in Dudley
07/08/2026 Four men have been arrested and more than four tonnes of illegal meat removed from an unapproved cutting plant in Dudley. |
Doubts over health and care integration agreements
06/08/2026 Doubts have been cast over the future of a key model for joint working between health and council services. |
Ombudsman warns over safeguarding failures after Portsmouth scandal
05/08/2026 The LGSCO has warned councils cannot outsource safeguarding responsibilities after finding serious failings in the care of an elderly woman in Portsmouth. |
Call for ‘community-centric approaches’ to reduce dementia hospitalisations
05/08/2026 People with dementia stay seven times longer than others in acute care, research has found. |
Ofsted secures first-ever prosecution of illegal children's home operator
05/08/2026 Ofsted has won its first criminal prosecution of an unregistered children's home provider, in a case highlighting the dangers of illegal care placements. |
Pupils from deprived areas in Gloucestershire face obesity issue
04/08/2026 Gloucestershire County Council has published new figures showing stark health inequalities linked to deprivation across the county. |
Compassion is key when delivering end of life care, Ombudsman says
30/07/2026 Councils have been urged by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) to enhance the quality of end life care. |
Councils call for greater powers to boost vaccination rates
28/07/2026 Councils have called for greater powers to boost vaccination rates and tackle rising measles cases. |
Social care is main driver of councils' emergency funding requests
27/07/2026 Social care is ‘taking centre stage' as the main factor driving councils' requests for exceptional financial support from Government, a new paper has found. |
NHS faces collapse without social care reform, says Burnham
27/07/2026 The NHS will collapse without social care system reform, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said. |
Wakefield greenlights £10m redevelopment scheme for new SEND school
24/07/2026 Wakefield Council has backed proposals for a £10m project that will see an unused building transformed into a special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) school. |
Warwickshire CC approves £8.2m early years funding
23/07/2026 An investment of more than £8.2m has been approved by Warwickshire County Council to safeguard over 500 early years nursery places. |
B&M fined £2m after council exposes mouse infestations
22/07/2026 B&M Retail Ltd has been fined £2m after Birmingham City Council successfully prosecuted the retailer for food hygiene offences at three Birmingham stores. |
Directors warning over proposed powers for child protection authority
16/07/2026 Stronger powers expected for the Government's child protection authority (CPA) need to be ‘proportionate' and focus on improving outcomes, ADCS says. |
Bristol welcomes ‘city of harm reduction’ status
16/07/2026 Bristol has become the first official ‘city of harm reduction’, with the declaration confirming that the council’s response to drug usage will prioritise support over punishment. |
Majority of councils rated ‘good’ for adult social care, but gaps remain
15/07/2026 Two thirds of councils are rated as ‘good’ when it comes to the delivery of adult social care but many are struggling to retain that rating, CQC finds. |
Report calls for legal duty on councils over gambling harm
13/07/2026 Local authorities should be legally mandated to combat gambling harms, as they already are for drugs and alcohol, a new report argues. |
Initiative to tackle profiteering in child placements expanded
13/07/2026 Over 100 councils will take part in the Government's expanded regional children's care initiative, which ministers hope will help tackle profiteering. |
Council closes beach amid asbestos testing
13/07/2026 Plymouth City Council has closed a beach in Mount Batten following the discovery of ‘hazardous waste’. |
ADCS conference: President warns of risks from 'Jenga tower' of reforms
09/07/2026 England's children's services' chiefs are holding together a ‘new and ever-growing Jenga tower' of reforms including reorganisation, president of ADCS warns. |
Leaders react to Casey's call for national health and social care service
09/07/2026 Local government leaders have reacted to a call from Baroness Casey for a national health and social care service. |
Casey warns social care reform needs ‘challenging conversation’
07/07/2026 Adult social care reform requires a ‘different and more challenging conversation with the country’, Baroness Louise Casey has told the LGA annual conference. |
‘Stark local gaps’ in childcare provision revealed
03/07/2026 Just 34% of councils have sufficient childcare places to support full-time working parents, research has found. |
Ofsted sets out plans to crackdown on unregistered children's homes
03/07/2026 Ofsted has outlined a new approach to tackling the sharp growth in unregistered children's homes. |
