Social work news

• Social worker numbers hit new record high in adults’ services

  12-02-2025 23:09
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.The number of social workers employed by council adults’ services in England has reached a new record high, official figures show.
  Local authorities had 19,200 practitioners in post as of September 2024, up 700 (3.8%) on the total 12 months previously and 1,900 (11%) higher than the number in September 2022, showed Skills for Care’s annual report on the council workforce.
  While t
  
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• Supervising social workers key to foster carer retention, amid deepening shortage, research shows

  12-02-2025 16:09
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.The support of supervising social workers is critical to foster carer retention, amid deepening shortages of capacity in the sector, research has shown.
  All but one of 114 UK fostering services surveyed in 2024 for the Fostering Network’s latest State of the Nations’ Foster Care report said there was a shortage of carers to meet local needs, down from six at the ti
  
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• Webinar: building a practice framework with the influence of practitioner voice

  12-02-2025 11:33
  
  Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council’s children’s services received a good rating from Ofsted in January 2025.
  The journey from inadequate to good was underpinned by the development of a bespoke and hybrid practice framework. Focusing on restorative and trauma-informed practice, practitioners and managers have worked together to implement this model.
  Principal social worker Leanne Morgan and team leader Stephanie Hutson share how they helped shape the practice model that
  
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• Government unveils plan to prevent risks to telecare users from digital switchover

  12-02-2025 10:43
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.The government has launched an action plan to prevent telecare users from losing services from the switching off of the UK’s analogue phone network.
  Its replacement by a fully digital network will mean that existing services connected to the copper-based system, including many telecare devices, will need to be switched over by January 2027.
  The switchover was initiated by the telecommu
  
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• Parental substance misuse: how to support children

  12-02-2025 09:49
  
  This article presents a few key considerations from Community Care Inform Children’s guide on supporting children and young people where parents are misusing drugs or alcohol. The full guide provides practice guidance on types of substance use, the impact of parental substance use on children, how to assess parental substance misuse and how to support the whole family. Inform Children subscribers can access the full guide here.
  This guide was written by Jessica Roy,  senior lecturer i
  
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• Unpaid carer wins overpayment penalty case against DWP

  12-02-2025 07:00
  
  Andrea Tucker has overturned the demand for £4,600 in carer’s allowance overpayments for alleged breaches in benefit rulesUnpaid carer Andrea Tucker has won a legal victory against the Department for Work and Pensions, overturning its demand she repay £4,600 for alleged breaches in benefit rules.Tucker, a part-time charity shop worker who until recently cared full-time for her elderly mother, said the tribunal ruling had left her “stunned and relieved” after months
  
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