Local government austerity linked to poor health
Council closes four care homes due to ‘market conditions’
Monkeypox increasing pressure on over-stretched health services
Staff shortages undermining drug treatment, study reveals
Local authorities must seize the potential for health and care volunteering
Paddy Hanrahan calls on councils to harness the support of trained volunteers to help combat huge challenges
Councils to receive over £15m to fund social care reforms
16/06/2022 The Government has announced a multi-million-pound package aimed at helping local authorities prepare for adult social care charging reform in October 2023. |
Care home owners paid 13 times more than carers
15/06/2022 The pay of executives at equity firms that own care homes is 13 times higher than the wages of the care home workers they employ, new research has revealed. |
Council chiefs criticise food strategy as ‘missed opportunity’
14/06/2022 Local authority leaders have criticised the Government’s new food strategy which they argue does not tackle the underlying causes of obesity. |
Javid announces £25m for social care digitisation
13/06/2022 The social care sector is to benefit from a £25m investment aimed at increasing the rate that social care records are digitised. |
Half of social workers at risk of quitting survey finds
13/06/2022 Nearly half (49%) of social workers say they are less likely to stay in their jobs due to excessive workloads, high stress levels and low morale. |
Inquiry hears of bullying and racism in social care sector
10/06/2022 Lower-paid health and social care workers have experienced bullying, racism and harassment at work, an inquiry by Britain’s equality regulator has heard. |
Immediate action needed to achieve smokefree target, review warns
09/06/2022 The age in which people can buy tobacco products should increase by one year every year until no-one is able to purchase them in this country, a new review has recommended. |
Disabled woman left without care for 12 months, Ombudsman finds
08/06/2022 Worcestershire County Council has been criticised after it left a woman who had had a stroke without appropriate care for a year. |
Council chiefs welcome ‘shake-up’ of health and social care
08/06/2022 Council leaders have welcomed a review into health and social care leadership, particularly its emphasis on collaboration across the NHS and social care. |
Study links child poverty to rise in number of children entering care system
06/06/2022 Child poverty contributed to more than 10,000 young people entering care over the course of five years, a new study has found. |
Welsh auditors: NHS waiting lists could take seven years to clear
31/05/2022 It could be seven years before Wales sees its NHS waiting lists come back down to pre-pandemic levels, Welsh Auditors have claimed. |
Social care crisis contributing to 13,000 NHS bed shortage
31/05/2022 Solving the staff shortage and underfunding problems affecting the social care system is essential for easing the pressure on the NHS, council leaders say. |
Adult social care reforms could cost nearly £26bn
25/05/2022 Adult social care reforms could cost a minimum of £10bn more than currently estimated and will require over 4,000 new social work staff, new study reveals. |
Council chiefs urge people to be alert after new monkeypox cases detected
24/05/2022 Local authority leaders have urged everyone to be aware of any unusual rashes or lesions as 36 additional cases of monkeypox are detected in England. |
Councils warn illicit tobacco could undermine smoking cessation efforts
23/05/2022 Council leaders have warned the cost of living crisis could cause more people to use cheap counterfeit tobacco, widening health disparities. |
Radical changes needed in children's social care, review urges
23/05/2022 Ministers face a ‘pivotal’ moment in children’s social care, with radical changes needed to stop tens of thousands more youngsters entering the system, an independent review has warned. |
One in five children at risk of obesity
19/05/2022 Government should help provide more affordable leisure opportunities, council chiefs say as study reveals children are not getting enough exercise. |
Over 300,000 people living with undiagnosed dementia
17/05/2022 Improving early diagnosis for the hundreds of thousands of people with dementia could lead to over £3bn in savings through lower carer costs, report says. |
Loneliness-related mental health problems impact vulnerable communities
16/05/2022 Disparities in local funding mean that vulnerable citizens are lacking access to social resources that might provide mental health support, study reveals. |
Council leaders urge GPs to prescribe leisure centre trips
16/05/2022 Council leaders are urging GPs to prescribe obese patients classes at local leisure centres after research found it could increase life expectancy four years. |
ADASS: More than half a million people now waiting for social care
13/05/2022 Over half a million people are waiting for social care and there has been a dramatic increase in the number of hours of home care that could not be delivered. |
Training carers key priority for social care sector
12/05/2022 Reform and training carers are two of the key priorities for the social care sector during the year ahead, according to the annual report of the CSW Lyn Romeo. |
Mental health support in schools to get £7m boost
12/05/2022 The Department for Education today announced a further £7m for schools and colleges to train a senior mental health lead. |
Queen’s Speech: Mental health laws to be overhauled
10/05/2022 Government will reform mental health laws to make it harder to detain people and to stop the disproportionate use of the laws against BAME communities. |
Charity warns of 'rapid rise' in food poverty
09/05/2022 More than seven million people live in households that have been forced to skip meals because they couldn't afford or get access to food, new data has revealed. |
Children ‘bounced around’ care system
06/05/2022 Research by the charity Barnardo’s has found young people are facing frequent changes of home, school and social workers. |
Government confirms it won’t appeal COVID care home ruling
05/05/2022 Government won't appeal a court decision which found the policy of discharging patients from hospitals to care homes at the start of the pandemic was unlawful. |
Nearly all UK addresses breach air pollution limits
29/04/2022 Around 97% of all UK addresses breach at least one World Health Organisation (WHO) limit for toxic pollutants, shocking new report reveals. |
Advisers call for minimum pay to ease care workforce crisis
27/04/2022 The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has said the Government should foot the bill for a minimum rate of £10.50 per hour for care workers in England. |
Discharging patients into care homes was 'unlawful', High Court rules
27/04/2022 The High Court today ruled that the Government’s policy of discharging patients from hospital to care homes at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was unlawful. |
MPs urge licensing authorities to use powers to tackle spiking
26/04/2022 Local authorities have been urged to use their licensing powers to ensure venues take action to prevent spiking incidents and keep customers safe by MPs. |
Experts warn of spike in COVID-related mental health problems
25/04/2022 Adults are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of the pandemic on their mental health as one third say their mental health has got worse. |
Social care cap amendment threatens ‘crippling care costs’
22/04/2022 MPs in Yorkshire, the Midlands and North East should vote down the social care cap amendment to save poorer constituents from ‘crippling' costs, charities say. |
Report warns of stark variation in the identification of child sexual abuse
20/04/2022 Some local areas are failing to identify and respond to child sexual abuse, a new report has warned today. |
Women in England's poorest areas die younger than nearly all other OECD countries
19/04/2022 Women living in the poorest parts of England have a lower life expectancy than women in living in almost any OECD country, new research has revealed. |
Council chiefs welcome £300m to tackle drug addiction
14/04/2022 Council leaders have welcomed a Government announcement of additional funding for local areas to tackle drug dependency as an ‘important step forward’. |
Report calls for a national audit on needs of children in care
13/04/2022 There needs to be a national audit around the needs of children in care, a new study from Ofsted has said today. |
New funding to help councils drive down parental conflict
13/04/2022 Councils will receive £33m to help resolve conflict between parents and and improve children’s life chances. |
Call for evidence on new 10-year mental health plan
12/04/2022 A call for evidence to inform a new 10-year mental health plan has been launched today by the Government. |
Government intervenes over council's 'inadequate' children's services
11/04/2022 The Government has issued a statutory direction to Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council forcing it to improve its children’s social care services. |
New guidance to help tackle 'traumatic' mistakes in aftercare of mental health in-patients
11/04/2022 New guidance to help prevent councils and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) from making common mistakes in the aftercare of mental health in-patients has been published. |
Call for national review of children's mental health services
07/04/2022 The new president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) has called for a post-pandemic national review of children’s mental health services. |
Welsh councils receive £10m to support domiciliary care
06/04/2022 A further £10m will be provided to local authorities in Wales to support domiciliary care and increase service provision, the Welsh government has announced. |
Auditors warn of social care direct payments ‘lottery’
06/04/2022 Direct payments for adult social care in Wales help residents maintain their independence but implementation is inconsistent, auditors say. |
City planning should be based on ‘health first principle’
05/04/2022 The UK’s planning system should be reformed to follow a ‘health first principle’, according to a new report. |
Adult social care workforce receives £500m boost
05/04/2022 People working in adult social care in England are set to benefit from a £500m boost that will go towards improving the recruitment and retention of staff. |
Charity calls for ‘mobility credits’ to promote shared transport
04/04/2022 England’s councils have been urged to introduce incentives for people to give up private vehicles to help increase the use of shared transport. |
There is no more cash for COVID, Government confirms
31/03/2022 There will be no more funding to help councils deal with outbreaks of COVID, the Government has confirmed. |
Over 30% of care jobs pay below living wage
31/03/2022 Workers within the care sector in England are more likely to earn less than the real living wage compared to those in Scotland and Wales, research reveals. |
Councils offered £75,000 grant to test digital housing services
30/03/2022 Councils are being invited to apply for grants of £75,000 to test out with older people which technology tools and digital housing services work best for them. |
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.
