Government announces £16m for virtual school heads programme
COVID vaccines to be mandatory for care home staff
Ministers appear 'complacent' over care home closures, MPs warn
Directors warn of unsustainable rise in social care demand
Tackling mistrust about vaccines
Dr Justin Varney looks at how Birmingham is working to tackle the ‘layers upon layers of mistrust’ among ethnic minority communities that is ‘now playing out in vaccine hesitancy’.
County at 'unsafe capacity' for caring for lone child migrants
14/06/2021 Kent County Council has warned it has reached capacity for caring for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) for the second time in a year. |
Sexual harassment ‘normalised’ for children, Ofsted warns
10/06/2021 Sexual harassment, including online sexual abuse, has become ‘normalised’ for children and young people, Ofsted has found. |
More training needed to identify child sexual abuse ‘swiftly’, council chiefs say
09/06/2021 Council leaders call for more training to be given to those working with children and young people so that victims of child abuse can be identified ‘swiftly’. |
COVID cases on the rise in Greater Manchester and Lancashire
09/06/2021 Additional COVID-19 measures, including surge testing, tracing, and isolation support, are to be deployed across Greater Manchester and Lancashire. |
London’s first detox unit for homeless people announced
09/06/2021 London’s first dedicated detox unit for people who are homeless is set to open on 14 June to help those suffering from addiction off the streets. |
Staff burnout in social care and health at 'emergency level'
08/06/2021 Workforce burnout in social care and the NHS has reached an ‘emergency level’, MPs have warned today. |
Lack of services sees thousands of people with a mental disorder sent to prison, says report
08/06/2021 Thousands of people with a mental health disorder are being sent to prison due to a lack of services, a new report has warned. |
Vulnerable children ‘detained unlawfully’ in Scotland
07/06/2021 Vulnerable children in Scotland may have been detained unlawfully in secure accommodation, a new investigation has revealed. |
Newborn baby care orders on the rise, research finds
04/06/2021 The majority of mothers facing urgent care proceedings are given less than a week’s formal notice that their newborn baby might be removed, new research has warned today. |
Children’s social care services ‘creative’ during pandemic, study finds
03/06/2021 A new study has found that children’s social care services have been ‘flexible’ and ‘creative’ in their responses to supporting care leavers during the pandemic, but it also found COVID-19 has exposed fragility in current systems. |
New framework for public health approach to modern slavery launched
03/06/2021 A new framework for a public health approach to tackling modern slavery has been made available for local authorities to access. |
Councils should have legal duty to provide ‘early help’ says report
02/06/2021 A new report is calling for a legal duty on local authorities to provide early help to children and families, rather than providing what is easiest to measure. |
Charity calls for ‘fair’ financial support for kinship carers
01/06/2021 A charity has called on the Government to ensure that kinship carers receive the same amount of financial support as foster carers. |
Surrey becomes first county in England to provide free period products
28/05/2021 Surrey County Council has become the first local authority in England to provide free period products. |
Calls for consultation on raising the age of sale for tobacco
28/05/2021 A health charity has called for a consultation on raising the age of sale for tobacco to 21 to help cut the number of smokers by thousands every year. |
CQC launches new ‘dynamic and flexible’ strategy
27/05/2021 The health and social care regulator, Care Quality Commission (CQC), has launched a new strategy which places more of an emphasis on how well local health and care systems are working and addressing local challenges. |
Care leavers moved into unsafe and unhealthy homes, says charity
25/05/2021 Many young people leaving the care system are being forced to live in unsafe and unsuitable accommodation, a charity has warned today. |
Councils to pilot new self-isolation support scheme
24/05/2021 Nine local authorities have been chosen to pilot new ways of supporting people needing to self-isolate. |
Government announces £50m boost for care leavers
24/05/2021 The Government today announced a £51m funding boost to help councils support care leavers and have launched a consultation on improving the quality of housing for those leaving care. |
New measures rolled out across COVID variant hotspots
20/05/2021 Surge testing and additional vaccines are being made available to local authorities experiencing a rise in the Indian COVID variant, the Government has announced. |
Hancock warns 86 council areas have five or more cases of Indian variant
18/05/2021 There are 86 local authority areas with five or more confirmed cases of the Indian variant of COVID-19, the health secretary has said. |
Council chiefs warn lack of social care reform could ‘destabilise’ health care
14/05/2021 Local authority leaders have warned that the absence of a long-term, fully funded plan for social care could destabilise other health and care reforms. |
More than 100 leisure centres could go bust, DCN warns
13/05/2021 More than 100 leisure centres in England could go bust due to the coronavirus crisis, district councils have warned. |
Green social prescribing projects chosen for funding
13/05/2021 Funding has been awarded to 10 green social prescribing projects to help communities recover from COVID-19. |
Queen's Speech: No funding pledge on social care reform
11/05/2021 The Queen’s Speech fell short of including a Social Care Bill and there was no pledge on funding. |
Council chiefs call for care ‘fix’ after lockdown impacts mobility of millions
11/05/2021 The ability of one in four older people to do everyday activities has worsened during the pandemic, research from the charity Age UK has revealed. |
Calls to declare a climate and ecological emergency
06/05/2021 A climate and ecological emergency should be declared to avoid a health and mental health 'catastrophe', the Royal College of Psychiatrists has warned today. |
End blanket ban on care home visits, MPs say
05/05/2021 MPs have urged the Government to change the law to ensure an end to the blanket ban on care home visits. |
Public call for underlying inequalities laid bare by COVID to be addressed
05/05/2021 More than three quarters of UK adults are calling for action to address the underlying inequalities exposed by COVID, a new poll has revealed. |
Government scraps self-isolation rule to allow care home residents to visit polling stations
04/05/2021 Care home residents will be allowed to vote in person in this week's local elections without having to self-isolate afterwards for 14 days, due to changes in Government guidance. |
Initial lockdown caused 'unprecedented' drop in activity levels
30/04/2021 The pandemic had an ‘unprecedented impact’ on activity levels during the initial restrictions, according to new research. |
Housing-with-care ‘safeguarded lives’ during pandemic
29/04/2021 A new study looking at how housing-with-care has coped over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic has found that retirement village and extra care housing operators successfully ‘safeguarded lives’ of residents and staff. |
Letter urges '1948 moment' for adult social care
28/04/2021 The Prime Minister has been urged to give adult social care a '1948 moment' ahead of the Queen's Speech next month. |
Children and families need £12.5bn over three years, says new ADCS president
22/04/2021 The growing number of children and families who need support 'to thrive, not just survive in the wake of the pandemic' will need investment of around £12.5bn over three years, says England's new children’s services chief. |
Shielding scheme took too long to identify up to 800,000, says PAC
20/04/2021 MPs have hit out at the Government’s ‘quickly drawn up’ COVID-19 shielding programme for taking too long to identify up to 800,000 people who may have missed out on help. |
More children worried about pollution near schools
19/04/2021 Nearly half of children in the UK are worried about air pollution near their school - up from 39% in 2018 - a new survey has revealed. |
Unemployment puts hundreds of thousands more at risk of poor mental health
19/04/2021 An extra 200,000 people are at risk of poor mental health due to unemployment, new analysis has predicted. |
COVID-19 self-test kits rolled out across Wales
16/04/2021 The Welsh government is encouraging all those who cannot work from home to access lateral flow self-test kits as they are rolled out across Wales. |
Lockdown rules eased in Scotland ahead of schedule
16/04/2021 New rules governing travel and outdoor socialising in Scotland have come into force today. |
COVID-19 mortality rates twice as high in insecure jobs, TUC finds
16/04/2021 Mortality rates during the pandemic are twice as high in insecure jobs than in other professions, a TUC analysis has revealed. |
Social care reform depends on market overhaul
15/04/2021 Social care reform will ‘fail’ without addressing weaknesses in the provider market, a think-tank has warned. |
Pandemic drives increase in ‘stress-smoking’
15/04/2021 COVID-19 has led to more than half of smokers ‘stress-smoking’ more and 10% lighting up again after quitting, a survey suggests. |
Clean air zones save lives and boost local economies
15/04/2021 Clean air zones (CAZs) will save lives and inject millions into local economies, an analysis of eight major cities in the UK has revealed. |
Vaccine may be made compulsory for care home staff
14/04/2021 Staff in English care homes with older adults may be required to have a COVID-19 vaccine in a bid to tackle hesitancy within the sector. |
Largest surge testing operation deployed in South London
13/04/2021 The largest surge testing operation to date will take place across parts of South London where the variant first identified in South Africa has been found. |
Professionals back use of standalone supervision orders
12/04/2021 Nine out of ten professionals think standalone supervision orders should continue to be an option in care proceedings, according to a new survey. |
Children ‘bearing brunt’ of mental health crisis
09/04/2021 The number of children seeking help for mental health problems increased by 28% during the pandemic, new figures have revealed. |
MPs call for review of 'dangerous' obesity strategy
09/04/2021 The Government’s Obesity Strategy has been branded as ‘dangerous’ for people with negative body image by MPs. |
New study maps loneliness during the pandemic
08/04/2021 People living in areas with higher levels of unemployment were more likely to experience loneliness throughout the pandemic, according to new research. |
Figures show rise in sexual and criminal exploitation under lockdown
07/04/2021 Criminal and sexual exploitation has risen ‘dramatically’ during the pandemic, new data has warned today. |
This issue of Public Property examines how how flexible workspaces can lead the way in regeneration for local authorities, Why local authority intervention is key to successful urban regeneration schemes and if the Government’s challenge of embracing beauty is an opportunity for communities.
The March issue also takes a closer look at Blackburn with Darwen Council's first digital health hub to help people gain control over health and care services.
