Social work news

• Bill to end profit from children’s care in Wales becomes law

  24-03-2025 22:14
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.Profit-making from children’s care in Wales is set to end by 2030, other than in exceptional circumstances, after a bill to implement the measure became law.
  The passage of the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025 makes Wales the first UK nation to institute an effective ban on profit in the provision of fostering, children’s home or secure accommodation placements for looked-
  
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• Use of unregulated experts in family courts to be curbed following ‘parental alienation’ concerns

  24-03-2025 21:10
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.The use of unregulated experts in children’s family court cases is to be curbed, following concerns about their use in cases involving so-called “parental alienation”.
  The courts would not be able to permit the instruction of an expert who was not regulated or on an accredited register other than in exceptional circumstances, under a proposed change to the Family Procedure
  
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• Guidance: NHS optical voucher values and hospital eye service charges from April 2025

  24-03-2025 16:58 via gov.uk
  
  Letter setting out optical voucher values and hospital eye service charges from 1 April 2025.
  
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• Help shine a light on social workers’ experience of learning

  24-03-2025 15:00
  
  Continuous learning is critical to high-quality social work practice, but the demands of the job can mean time to carry out skills and knowledge development is squeezed out.
  Community Care Inform has just launched the latest wave of its Learning Landscapes research, to shine a light on social workers and other social care practitioners’ experiences of learning.
  We want to find out how much time you have for learning, how sufficient this is and what the barriers are to you receiving th
  
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• ‘Hospices are in retreat’: funding crisis squeezing UK palliative care providers

  24-03-2025 13:07
  
  St Catherine’s hospice in West Sussex says it has been forced to leave beds empty despite the demand for end-of-life careAt the end of 2023, St Catherine’s hospice near Crawley, West Sussex, moved to a new purpose-built, state-of-the art building. Twenty-four private rooms with en suite bathrooms and French doors leading to individual terraces were designed to make the final days of a patient’s life as peaceful as possible. Medical equipment was concealed, beloved pets were wel
  
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• Research: The state of cyber security in adult social care

  24-03-2025 11:00 via gov.uk
  
  A report examining the knowledge and understanding of cyber security, and level of cyber resilience, in the adult social care sector.
  
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• Guidance: Early years teacher degree apprenticeship: guidance for training providers

  24-03-2025 11:00 via gov.uk
  
  How to provide the early years teacher degree apprenticeship (EYTDA).
  
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• Children’s Home Registered Manager

  24-03-2025 10:16
  
  https://jobs.communitycare.co.uk/job/1401767651/children-s-home-registered-manager/
  
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• ‘Why involving social workers in case reviews improves outcomes’

  24-03-2025 09:36
  
  By Donna Ohdedar
  Social workers are often the focus for blame when a tragedy occurs. When practice falls short of what was expected, leaders are under pressure to show accountability.
  But where this leads to more compliance measures and defensiveness, we’re not creating the conditions for workers to do what they do best.
  With high caseloads and overwhelm, a more supportive approach would encourage openness, ownership and, inevitably, a better outcome that doesn’t result in more time-
  
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• ‘How social workers can prepare for a case review and why involving them promotes better outcomes’

  24-03-2025 09:36
  
  By Donna Ohdedar
  Social workers are often the focus for blame when a tragedy occurs. When practice falls short of what was expected, leaders are under pressure to show accountability.
  But where this leads to more compliance measures and defensiveness, we’re not creating the conditions for workers to do what they do best.
  With high caseloads and overwhelm, a more supportive approach would encourage openness, ownership and, inevitably, a better outcome that doesn’t result in more time-
  
  Read more

• ‘Nobody found him in time’: how neglect and stress led to the deaths of a full-time carer and his son

  24-03-2025 06:00
  
  David Lodge died after being found next to his father and full-time carer Peter’s body. His sister Keri believes the strain of caring and lack of government support contributed to their deathsPeter Lodge devoted his life to his son, David. He cherished every moment with him, even when David’s condition left them effectively housebound. Right up until he was 74, Peter would sleep on the living room floor beside David’s hospital bed. Not once did he see his role as a burden.He wa
  
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