Social work news

• ‘A kick in the teeth’: DfE axes social work leadership training scheme

  17-04-2024 23:35
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.The Department for Education has axed a social work leadership training programme in what has been described as a “kick in the teeth” for the profession.
  The DfE will not renew funding for the Pathways programme when its initial two-year period comes to an end in July, revealed Frontline yesterday.
  ‘Budget-related’ decision
  The charity, which delivers the training to
  
  Read more

• ‘A kick in the teeth’: DfE axes social work leadership training programme

  17-04-2024 23:35
  
  The Department for Education has axed a social work leadership training programme in what has been described as a “kick in the teeth” for the profession.
  The DfE will not renew funding for the Pathways programme when its initial two-year period comes to an end in July, revealed Frontline yesterday.
  The charity, which delivers the training to practice supervisors, middle managers, heads of service and assistant director in council children’s services, said the “unexpected&
  
  Read more

• DWP warns carers they could face greater penalties if they appeal against fines

  17-04-2024 19:41
  
  Officials at Department for Work and Pensions accused of ‘threatening and cruel’ tactics over repayment orders Government officials have been accused of using “threatening and cruel” tactics towards unpaid carers by saying they could face even greater financial penalties if they appeal against “vindictive” benefit fines.This month a Guardian investigation revealed that thousands of people who look after disabled, frail or ill relatives have been forced to pay
  
  Read more

• Unpaid carers lose out in benefits gap | Brief letters

  17-04-2024 19:31
  
  Carer’s allowance eligibility | Liz Truss’s bestseller | Save the election date | Earthworms rule | Reservoir picsRe Jan Pahl’s letter (12 April) illustrating the very low value that carer’s allowance (CA) places on unpaid carers’ contributions to the care of their families, the gap between entitlement to and eligibility for CA is further proof of this. In 2022-23, 1.3 million people were deemed to be entitled to claim CA, but nearly 400,000 were ineligible bec
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• DWP accused of ‘cruel’ tactics towards carers over appealing fines

  17-04-2024 19:12
  
  Carers say Department for Work and Pensions warns financial penalties could increase if they challenge repayment ordersGovernment officials have been accused of using “threatening and cruel” tactics towards unpaid carers by saying they could face even greater financial penalties if they appeal against “vindictive” benefit fines.This month a Guardian investigation revealed that thousands of people who look after disabled, frail or ill relatives have been forced to pay back
  
  Read more

• Firm pulls out of providing service for council that union claims would have broken social work strike

  17-04-2024 19:11
  
  A firm has pulled out of providing a service to a local authority that a union claimed would have unlawfully broken a social work strike, which started this week.
  Barnet Council had engaged Flex360 to supply “additional service provision” during the two-week strike by mental health social workers in the London borough, from 15-26 April.
  Flex360, part of the RT Group, provides project teams to local authorities to tackle tackling case backlogs or deliver specific services, such as Dep
  
  Read more

• Statement to Parliament: Tobacco & Vapes Bill Second Reading  

  17-04-2024 19:02 via gov.uk
  
  Oral statement to Parliament: Tobacco & Vapes Bill Second Reading.  As delivered by Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP, Minister for Health. 
  
  Read more

• Man with Down’s syndrome died from choking at care home, inquest hears

  17-04-2024 16:19
  
  Marcus Hanlin swallowed conkers hidden in rice after being left unsupervised in Bristol homeA man with Down’s syndrome, severe learning disabilities and poor eyesight, who died after swallowing conkers hidden in rice as part of a sensory activity at a nursing home, had been left unsupervised though staff knew he was fascinated by food, an inquest has heard.Marcus Hanlin, 57, was on a regime at Cheddar Grove nursing home in Bristol that included him only eating pureed meals and being kept a
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Man died after swallowing conkers at care home, inquest hears

  17-04-2024 16:19
  
  Marcus Hanlin, who had Down’s syndrome and was on regime of pureed meals, choked after being left unsupervised, inquest toldA man with Down’s syndrome, severe learning disabilities and poor eyesight, who died after swallowing conkers hidden in rice as part of a sensory activity at a nursing home, had been left unsupervised though staff knew he was fascinated by food, an inquest has heard.Marcus Hanlin, 57, was on a regime at Cheddar Grove nursing home in Bristol that included him onl
  
  Read more

• Improving public perception of social work requires positive media exposure, say practitioners

  17-04-2024 16:07
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.Most social workers believe that improving public perception of social work requires enhanced media representation, a Community Care poll has found.
  This follows the report of a recent survey by YouGov, for Social Work England, that revealed that just 44% of members of the public thought the profession was well-respected within society, far lower than was the case for doctors (90%) or nurses
  
  Read more

• ‘The power of social work has shaped who I am’ – ADCS’s new care experienced president

  17-04-2024 14:29
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.Incoming Association of Directors of Children’s Services president Andy Smith is passionate about social work’s potential to improve children’s lives.
  While such a belief is commonplace among senior managers in local authority children’s services, for Smith, it is personal. He was one of those children whose lives were transformed by a social worker.
  Smith was taken i
  
  Read more

• Transparency data: Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) dataset

  17-04-2024 13:55 via gov.uk
  
  Guide to the LEO extractwhich connects individuals’ education data with their employment, benefits and earnings data for analysis.
  
  Read more

• Assistive technology and dementia: practice tips

  17-04-2024 09:45
  
  This article provides practice tips from Community Care Inform Adults’ guide on assistive technology and dementia. The full guide explores key concepts and terms and categories of assistive technology, and discusses some potential uses. The aim of the guide is to enable practitioners to adopt a values- and evidence-based and enabling approach that takes account of the potential benefits, as well as the potential limitations, of assistive technology for people with dementia. Inform Adults
  
  Read more

• One in 52 Blackpool children in care as poverty soars in north of England

  17-04-2024 01:01
  
  £25bn of public money would have been saved between 2019 and 2023 if north had same care entry rates as south, report saysOne in every 52 children in Blackpool are in care compared with one in 140 across England, leading to calls for more to be done to urgently tackle the widening north-south divide, brought on by “decades of underinvestment”.Nine in every thousand children are in care in the north, compared with six in the rest of England, according to a report by Health Equit
  
  Read more

• Statement to Parliament: Tobacco and Vapes Bill: second reading

  17-04-2024 01:00 via gov.uk
  
  Statement to Parliament from Health Minister, Andrea Leadsom, at the second reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
  
  Read more

Follow @UK_socialwork on Twitter!