Social work news

• Social care leaders sound alarm over 120% hike in sponsorship fees for overseas staff

  28-01-2025 23:07
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.Social care leaders have sounded the alarm over a planned 120% hike in the fees they must pay to sponsor overseas staff to work for them on skilled worker visas.
  The government has tabled legislation to raise the certificate of sponsorship fee from £239 to £525, though it has not confirmed the implementation date.
  Employers must obtain the certificates to enable people from abroa
  
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• No agency social workers used in statutory services in Northern Ireland since September 2023

  28-01-2025 22:08
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.No agency social workers have been used in Northern Ireland’s health and social care (HSC) trusts since September 2023, the region’s health minister has said.
  Mike Nesbitt hailed the success of a ban – introduced in June 2023 – on the five trusts using locum social workers in their services, in response to a question on the issue in the Northern Ireland Assembly this
  
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• Guidance: Record keeping and retention information for academies

  28-01-2025 16:09 via gov.uk
  
  Guidance for academies and academy trusts on record keeping and retention.
  
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• Press release: Government opens discussions with Community Pharmacy England over 25/26 funding contract

  28-01-2025 15:45 via gov.uk
  
  The consultation will set the future direction for the community pharmacy sector.
  
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• Guidance: Get information about schools

  28-01-2025 14:28 via gov.uk
  
  Information on state-funded schools, independent schools, other education providers and school governance.
  
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• ‘It’s a job, and a tough one’: the pain and privilege of being a millennial caregiver

  28-01-2025 13:00
  Andrew, 33, cares full-time for his grandmother Elo, who has vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s. Isadora Kosofsky spent four years documenting their relationshipOn a Sunday afternoon in October, Andrew Rahal locked his grandmother Elo’s wheelchair in place – “click it or ticket”, he told her – before heating up a bowl of borscht from the Armenian grocery store near their home in Granada Hills, California. He then sat in front of her, patiently feeding her spoon
  
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• Guidance: Identifying and supporting young people at risk of NEET

  28-01-2025 11:46 via gov.uk
  
  How to use a risk of NEET indicator (RONI) approach to identify at-risk young people, support participation and post-16 transition, and prevent NEET.
  
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• Guidance: Experience-based route for early years staff

  28-01-2025 10:00 via gov.uk
  
  How early years providers can implement the experience-based route for staff who do not hold full and relevant qualifications.
  
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• Consultation outcome: Experience-based route for early years practitioners

  28-01-2025 10:00 via gov.uk
  
  A technical consultation to test a proposed model for the experience-based route, proposed eligibility criteria and process requirements.
  
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• How collaboration with occupational therapists can improve social work practice

  28-01-2025 09:30
  
  “I didn’t really know what an occupational therapist was,” says Hannah, an experienced social worker in the south adult community team at Wiltshire Council, recalling her early days of being a newly qualified social worker.
  There are over 44,000 occupational therapists (OTs) in the UK, but in England only 3,800 work in adult social care. Some local authorities outsource part or all of their occupational therapy provision to external agencies.
  However, Wiltshire Council has a la
  
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• Promoting reflective practice: tips for practice educators

  28-01-2025 09:17
  
  This article provides advice and tips from Community Care Inform’s guide for practice educators on reflection. Written by Siobhan Maclean, the in-depth guide covers the ‘What? Why? How?’ framework and how it can be used in social work and practice education. It looks at how to use different models of reflection with students, to improve their reflective skills, and outlines ways to help students with reflective writing. Inform Adults subscribers can access the full content her
  
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• A reader with a terminal illness emailed in despair. What she told me should shock us all | Frances Ryan

  28-01-2025 07:00
  
  Rosy is unable to move, breathe or eat unassisted. Yet NHS assessors think it’s fine to leave her alone for hours at a timeLast September, I received an email from a reader called Rosy. At just 53, motor neurone disease meant Rosy was losing her body as she knew it, piece by piece. Previously an assistant librarian at the University of Portsmouth, she was now struggling to hold a book. Too weak to breathe easily, she was reliant on a ventilator at night. In the two-bedroom house Rosy share
  
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• Press release: AI sensors on fridges and kettles helping vulnerable people to live independently

  28-01-2025 01:01 via gov.uk
  
  Councils are leveraging AI and technology to enhance public services, save money, and improve living standards, aligning with government plans for £45 billion in efficiency savings under the Plan for Change.
  
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• Press release: Government opens discussions with Community Pharmacy England over 2025 to 2026 funding contract

  28-01-2025 01:00 via gov.uk
  
  The consultation will set the future direction for the community pharmacy sector.
  
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