New ADASS president calls for community focus
Charities call for action on ‘dangerous’ homes
ICSs enabling progress on dementia diagnosis, says think tank
Children’s services in North face £25bn care burden
Ending the ‘care cliff’
Katharine Sacks-Jones, CEO of Become, explains what local authorities can do to prevent young people leaving care from experiencing the ‘care cliff'.
Council chiefs hit back at Defra’s air quality demands
03/02/2023 Councils do not hold the ‘important levers to tackle air quality’, council leaders have said in response to the environment secretary’s clean air plans. |
‘Vast majority’ of social housing free from mould
02/02/2023 Local authority leaders say they will continue driving up social housing standards as regulator finds the vast majority of social housing is free from mould. |
Ombudsman publishes record keeping 'good practice' guide
02/02/2023 A new guide to help care providers learn from complaints involving record keeping was today published. |
County leaders call for tech solutions to social care issues
02/02/2023 Digital technology is a crucial step in reforming adult social care, according to the County Councils Network. |
Children’s social care reform fails to address £1.6bn shortfall
02/02/2023 Local government organisations have welcomed a new strategy for children’s social services but warned the proposed £200m of funding falls short. |
Council charges elderly man for home care without agreement
01/02/2023 The Ombudsman has upheld a complaint by a man in his 80s who was charged for home care services by Trafford Council without his agreement. |
Sector given role in NHS plan
31/01/2023 Local government will join an ‘expert group’ with the community sector and care providers to ‘build adult social care capacity’ as part of a new NHS plan. |
Scottish councils call for ‘whole system’ approach to care
31/01/2023 Urgent investment and a ‘whole system’ approach are needed to make progress developing the social care workforce, COSLA has warned. |
Stop blaming social care for NHS crisis, care leader say
30/01/2023 Social care leaders have told the Government to stop blaming the social care sector for the NHS crisis. |
Woman with schizophrenia lay dead in council flat for four years
27/01/2023 Surrey County Council has committed to taking a full part in the inquest into a woman with schizophrenia who was found dead in her flat after four years. |
Charity calls for ‘buddy’ scheme for parents raised in care
27/01/2023 A children’s charity has called for more support to be provided to new parents who spent their own childhoods in the care system. |
Sugar levy prevented 5,000 cases of obesity every year
27/01/2023 Council leaders have called on the Government to recommit to the sugar levy as a new study reveals it prevented more than 5,000 cases of obesity every year. |
Unlawful under-payment of care workers ‘widespread’
26/01/2023 Social care workers face unsafe working conditions and unlawfully low wages but still have high levels of job satisfaction, think tank finds. |
Council put hundreds of tenants at 'potential risk'
25/01/2023 Sheffield City Council has been scolded by the regulator for putting hundreds of tenants at ‘potential risk’ after failing to carry out gas safety checks. |
Council apologises for failing to fix two-year-old leak
24/01/2023 Leeds City Council acknowledges there were failings within its repair service that led to a resident living with damp in both the kitchen and bathroom. |
Archbishops publish plan to fix ‘broken social care system’
24/01/2023 Local authority leaders have welcomed a call from the Church of England to increase investment in communities and to introduce a National Care Covenant. |
Schools should be better utilised for local safeguarding, report says
23/01/2023 Schools and primary care networks should be better utilised in supporting Local Safeguarding Partnerships, a new report into foster care has concluded. |
Mental health emergency services to receive £150m
23/01/2023 Patients experiencing a mental health emergency will soon be able to benefit from 150 new facilities dedicated to supporting mental health urgent care. |
Council chiefs call for ‘clarity’ on addiction services funding
19/01/2023 Council leaders have called for ‘urgent clarity’ on how addiction services will be funded after the figures reveal a rise in number of people seeking help. |
Councillors call for ‘polluter pays’ levy on tobacco
18/01/2023 Local councillors have urged the Government to introduce a ‘polluter pays’ levy on tobacco manufacturers and to replace the expired plan to control tobacco. |
Funding cuts reduce health visitor force by 40%
18/01/2023 The number of health visitors has plummeted by nearly 40% since 2015 due to public health grant cuts, local authority leaders warn. |
Roll-out of school mental health support teams could save £1.8bn
16/01/2023 The urgent roll-out of Mental Health Support Teams across schools in England could provide a ‘significant’ cost saving for the public sector, charity says. |
New chief sought for integrated care board
13/01/2023 Recruitment specialists Penna have been chosen to search for a new chief for the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board. |
Child at risk of gang violence because of council failings
13/01/2023 A four-year-old child was placed at risk of gang violence because of failings by Croydon council, the ombudsman has ruled. |
Call for action as London remains ‘epicentre of homelessness’
12/01/2023 London Councils is calling for action following a report from the housing charity Shelter showing that one in 58 Londoners is homeless. |
Council pleads guilty to health and safety breach after Ella Henderson death
10/01/2023 Newcastle City Council’s boss has said new procedures have been put in place after the local authority pleaded guilty to a health and safety breach. |
Majority of councils considering leisure services cuts
09/01/2023 Council leaders call for strategy to save leisure centres as report warns of cuts to leisure services as post-Olympics sports boom fails to materialise. |
Short-term care placements receive £200m boost
09/01/2023 The Government is making available £200m to help secure local care home spaces so that patients can be safely discharged from overcrowded hospitals. |
Tenants warn grant cut will create homelessness
06/01/2023 Council tenants are warning that many will be forced onto the streets because of cuts to Discretionary Housing Payments. |
Drop national care plan, say Scottish councils
05/01/2023 Council leaders in Scotland have called for their Government’s plans for a new national care service to be dropped. |
15 minutes not enough for dementia visits, ombudsman rules
05/01/2023 Warrington Council has accepted ombudsman investigation that care workers repeatedly stayed for less than 15 minutes at the home of a patient with dementia. |
People with disabilities more likely to struggle this winter, says poverty group
04/01/2023 Problems for disabled people heating their homes and cutting back on food are highlighted in a new report from the Resolution Foundation. |
Local support is a ‘bulwark against despair’, say London councils
04/01/2023 More government support is needed to help people deal with problems including domestic abuse, flooding and redundancy, say a group of councils in London. |
'Shocking' findings on children in care
03/01/2023 A charity campaigning for children in care is calling on the Government to address the instability faced by many children in the care system. |
Social prescribing support receives £3.6m boost
23/12/2022 More than £3.6m of Government funding has been awarded to the National Academy of Social Prescribing to support mental health and wellbeing. |
Council chiefs issue cost-of-living crisis fire warning
23/12/2022 Local authority leaders yesterday reminded residents to be careful when using candles for lighting or heating this Christmas. |
CQC delays new care inspections
21/12/2022 The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has announced it is to delay the introduction of its new adult care assessments. |
Carers need 41% pay rise to equal NHS equivalents
21/12/2022 Social care workers would need a 41% pay rise to achieve parity with their NHS equivalents, new research reveals. |
Social care requests almost hits two million
20/12/2022 Local authority leaders have warned that this will be ‘one of their toughest winters yet’ as the number of requests for care reaches almost two million. |
SEND pupils ‘unfairly excluded’, charity says
16/12/2022 Pupils with additional needs have said they are unfairly excluded from mainstream schools because of racism and a lack of understanding from professionals. |
Council fined £5,000 after autistic boy left without education
16/12/2022 Oxfordshire County Council has been told to pay £5,000 to the mother of an autistic boy to make up for a year of missed education. |
Children’s services deal with nearly 220,000 urgent referrals
14/12/2022 Children’s services dealt with 217,800 of the most urgent referrals – those in which significant abuse or harm is suspected – during 2021-22, study reveals. |
Check on the vulnerable this winter, council chiefs say
12/12/2022 Directors of public health and local authority leaders have urged people to check on the most vulnerable as temperatures across the country drop. |
Minister accepts early intervention is 'critical'
09/12/2022 Early intervention is ‘critical,’ minister concedes as Government told to publish its delayed plan for implementing children’s social care recommendations. |
Deaths caused by alcohol reach 'record high'
09/12/2022 Council leaders have called for a 'concerted approach' to tackling alcohol dependency after figures showed the number of deaths caused by alcohol has hit a record high. |
Croydon council criticised for failing to provide respite care
09/12/2022 Croydon council has been criticised for failing to provide respite care for the mother of a disabled teenager because it would cost too much. |
Council apologises after failing boy with Autism
09/12/2022 Redcar and Cleveland Council have apologised after failing to provide respite care for the family of a boy with complex special educational needs. |
Poor health 'undermining UK economy' think tank warns
08/12/2022 Mental health problems are the most common reason for people being unable to work new research has revealed. |
Charity calls for better social care support from councils
07/12/2022 Almost four in five people in England say they know little to nothing about how paying for social care services works, an older person’s charity has found. |
Number of recorded smokers reaches all-time low
06/12/2022 The number of people smoking has fallen to 13% in 2021, the lowest level on record, official figures have revealed. |
Shell is helping power the journey towards a circular paving industry with Shell Bitumen LT R, a new product for roads that uses plastics destined for landfill as part of the additives to make the bitumen.
Effective Energy Group is now offering its support to the 40 Local Authorities who have received a share of the £430m to deliver their projects on the ground by surveying properties and installing measures.
Dougie Belmore explains how one of the main interfaces between you and Bacs is about to change.
