Social work news

• Independent reviewing officer role saved in DfE care review response

  02-02-2023 23:20
  
  The independent reviewing officer (IRO) role has been saved from abolition, the government confirmed today.
  The Department for Education (DfE) rejected calls from the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care to abolish the role, following widespread opposition from social work bodies and children’s charities.
  In its response to the care review, published today, the DfE pledged to retain both the IRO role and that of regulation 44 visitors – who are appointed by childre
  
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• The Guardian view on the care home sector: trouble looms as rents rise | Editorial

  02-02-2023 19:25
  
  An inflationary environment makes care home collapses more probable, given the way they’re financing themselvesSocial policy/The care home sector risks sleepwalking into a crisis of rising costsWhen Britain’s largest care home operator, Southern Cross, collapsed in 2011, it heaped anxiety on elderly residents and ignited a debate about the role of private finance in the sector. The company had sold off most of its freehold properties to landlords, leaving it with a £230m annual
  
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• You can’t raise children on the cheap, so why is this government set on doing so? | Rebekah Pierre

  02-02-2023 18:49
  
  As a care leaver-turned-social worker, I’m appalled by the Tories’ paltry plans for the care sectorUnder normal circumstances, I would do anything for this government to stop lying. But on this occasion, following its response to the “once in a generation” review of children’s social care, I find myself hoping it has lied.We cannot wait another generation for the meaningful change we were promised. This strategy offers a pittance – just £200m split among
  
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• Impact assessment: Higher education student finance 2023 to 2024: equality analysis

  02-02-2023 17:46 via gov.uk
  
  Analysis of how changes made to student finance regulations for the 2023 to 2024 academic year will affect specific protected groups.
  
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• Guidance: General practice workforce estimates by constituency: 2019 to 2022

  02-02-2023 15:15 via gov.uk
  
  Estimates of full-time equivalent clinical staff working in general practice in England between September 2019 and September 2022.
  
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• ‘I knew I wanted to stay here for the rest of my life’: how London got its first LGBTQ+ retirement community

  02-02-2023 15:00
  
  The idea is nothing new in other countries, but the UK has been slow to develop housing schemes for older LGBTQ+ people. Now it’s becoming apparent how many people want or need itWhen the clocks struck midnight on new year’s eve and rang in 2023, Steve Busby was on the rooftop of a fancy apartment block in central London watching fireworks light up the Thames. The weeks leading up to Christmas had been a heady mix of meals, drinks, celebrations and friends, most of whom live in the s
  
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• Open consultation: Children's social care: Stable Homes, Built on Love

  02-02-2023 11:03 via gov.uk
  
  We are seeking views on our proposals to reform children’s social care.
  
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• Open consultation: Child and family social worker workforce

  02-02-2023 11:02 via gov.uk
  
  We’d like your views on proposals to introduce national rules on the use of agency child and family social workers in local authority children’s social care.
  
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• Open consultation: Children's social care national framework and dashboard

  02-02-2023 11:01 via gov.uk
  
  We're consulting on the children’s social care national framework and dashboard indicators.
  
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• Policy paper: The impact of body image on mental and physical health: government response

  02-02-2023 10:56 via gov.uk
  
  The government’s formal response to the recommendations made by the Health and Social Care Committee in its report on the impact of body image on mental and physical health.
  
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• Care review lead: government must go further and faster in response

  02-02-2023 10:48
  
  The head of the care review has welcomed the government’s response to his report but has urged it to go “further and faster”.
  Josh MacAlister, who led the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, said today’s Department for Education response set the right direction but was critical of its failure to take forward certain recommendations and the lack of funding.
  Sector bodies have roundly criticised the DfE for providing one-fifth of the funding recommended by M
  
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• Official Statistics: Adult social care in England, monthly statistics: February 2023

  02-02-2023 10:30 via gov.uk
  
  Experimental statistics on a range of topics including infection control measures, coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations and testing for COVID-19 in adult social care settings.
  
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• National Statistics: A level and other 16 to 18 results: 2022 (revised)

  02-02-2023 10:30 via gov.uk
  
  The attainment of students at the end of their 16 to 18 study in England.
  
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• National Statistics: 16 to 18 school and college performance data in England: 2021 to 2022 (revised)

  02-02-2023 10:30 via gov.uk
  
  The attainment of students at the end of their 16 to 18 study in England.
  
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• Press release: Long-term strategy launched to fix children’s social care

  02-02-2023 01:15 via gov.uk
  
  Government to transform children’s social care, with ambitious plans that put families at the heart of reform 
  
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• Specialist child protection social workers to be piloted in DfE care review response

  02-02-2023 01:01
  
  The appointment of specialist social workers to lead child protection cases will be piloted while a new framework will be introduced to support practitioners at the start of their careers, the government has said in its response to the care review.
  The long-awaited children’s social care implementation strategy, published today by the Department for Education (DfE), also includes plans to support councils recruit up to 500 social work apprentices and consultative proposals on reducing auth
  
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• Specialist child protection social workers to be introduced in DfE care review response

  02-02-2023 01:01
  
  Specialist social workers will be appointed to lead child protection cases while a new framework will be introduced to support practitioners at the start of their careers, the government has said in its response to the care review.
  The long-awaited children’s social care implementation strategy, which will be published today by the Department for Education (DfE), also includes plans to support councils recruit up to 500 social work apprentices and consultative proposals on reducing authori
  
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• DfE provides 20% of funding urged by care review in response

  02-02-2023 01:01
  
  Sector bodies have heavily criticised the government’s provision of one-fifth of the resources called for by the care review to reform social care in its response today.
  The Department for Education has allocated £200m over two years to its children’s social care implementation strategy, which it said would “transform the current care system to focus on more early support for families, reducing the need for crisis response at a later stage”.
  However, this compares t
  
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• Children to be housed closer to family in overhaul of England’s social care system

  02-02-2023 01:01
  
  Changes in children’s social care, including earlier help for families, fall short of ‘full reset’ called for by adviserMinisters are to pledge that children taken into care in England will be placed close to their family and friends rather than being housed hundreds of miles away, under what is described as an ambitious overhaul of the struggling social services system.The commitment on care placements is one of a series of proposals aimed at reforming what the government has
  
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