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SubscriptionsCategory: Social Care
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The Volunteer Army: ‘Empty Promises are No Solution to Serious Pressures on Health and Social Care’
Consultant David Oliver laments yet another ‘Policy Zombie’ from the Government
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‘Not the Radical Reset Children’s Care Needs’
A new parliamentary reports criticises the Government’s plans for young people’s care – with the Home Secretary announcing that the same strategy will be used to tackle child sexual abuse
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‘A Fundamental Lack of Awareness that these People are Actually Human’: How the Government is Failing Older People with Learning Disabilities
A new report lifts the lid on the urgent need for a strategy on how this ignored group can be supported to lead fulfilling lives
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Government Attacked Over Plans for Hostels, Bedsits, Caravans, Boats and Barges to be Acceptable Housing for Children in Care
A consultation closing next week has raised concerns with campaigners over the ‘hugely regressive’ plans Campaigners have attacked Government plans they say will turn bedsits and hostels into accepted housing for vulnerable older children in the care system. The Department for Education launched a public consultation last month on new rules for so-called ‘supported accommodation’…
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Deaths in Care: ‘How Can You Move On if there’s No Accountability?’
Saba Salman reports on the impact on families of years spent seeking answers after an unexpected death in care
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Being An Employer of Your Own Care
Penny Pepper has spent more than 20 years balancing the books, hiring and firing, and eyeing up spreadsheets – like many disabled people, all in the name of ‘Direct Payment’
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Thousands of Children at Risk of Criminal Exploitation as Government Classifies Modern Slavery as an Immigration Issue
New data on children in need reveals the scale of criminal and sexual exploitation of children – so why does the Government see modern slavery as an issue for illegal immigration?
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REVEALED: Cost of Living Crisis Piles Pressure on Children’s Homes as Gas and Energy Bills Soar
A new investigation by Sian Norris with the Byline Intelligence Team reveals rising costs are putting budgetary pressure on council-run children’s homes already feeling the strain
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‘Government Can’t Ignore Child Sex Abuse Inquiry Recommendations Without Looking Like It Doesn’t Care about Safeguarding Children’
Abuse survivors insist that the Government cannot ignore the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s recommendations to ensure young people are protected from ‘a national epidemic’
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Who Will Care for the Carers Left Without Government Support?
Politicians should take an approach to health and care that considers the needs of the families of disabled people – but instead seem content to continue the creeping withdrawal of state support from the people who need it most, writes Saba Salman
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Care Workers Face Poverty as Vacancies Reach Record Levels
Vacancies in social care have increased by 55,000 in the past year – while poverty wages push people out of the sector, Sian Norris reports
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Nearly Half of Foster Carers Considering Quitting Due to Cost of Living Crisis, Research Finds
The findings come at a time when the sector has already been struggling to find carers to look after vulnerable children
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How Big Profits are Made in Children’s Social Care
A new investigation by Sam Baker looks at concerns of a ‘dysfunctional’ sector where big firms dominate the response to a growing social crisis
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How ‘Claps for Carers’ Didn’t Result in Better Conditions or Pay
The summer of strikes has come to social care – with striking careworkers fighting for better pay and against precarity, reports Thomas Perrett
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Truss’ Plans for EU Laws Follow a Pattern of Attacks on Women’s Economic Security
12 years of austerity, a lack of investment in care, and the rising cost of living have harmed women’s economic security – now Truss’ Brexit plans risk continuing that trend, argues Sian Norris
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Spending on Early Years Support Halved Under Successive Conservative Led Governments
New research published by a coalition of children’s charities reveals the impact of austerity measures on looked-after children, reports Sian Norris
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Experts Demand to Know Why Findings into 48 Cases of Harm and Death of Children in Care Will Go Unpublished
The decision not to publish a report that includes incidents of children in care dying in unregulated accommodation has caused concern
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A New Review into Children’s Deaths by their Parents’ Partners Raises Questions About the Future of Social Care
Does another review of more tragic deaths of vulnerable children provide the answers needed to protect children from harm, asks Katharine Quarmby
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Children’s Social Care Cannot Be Reformed Without Recognising the Impact of Poverty and Austerity
Following 12 years of cuts, is it any wonder that the children’s social care sector is in trouble? A new review misses some of the key structural causes
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All the Conservative Manifesto Promises Boris Johnson has Broken
The Prime Minister’s promise not to raise National Insurance is the latest in a growing list of ripped up pledges from his 2019 manifesto, reports Adam Bienkov
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High Levels of Debt in Children’s Social Care Put Vulnerable Kids at Risk
Findings from the Competition and Markets Authority vindicate Byline Times’ investigations into private equity investment in children’s care, Sian Norris reports
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The Care Carnage
As the Health and Care Bill returns to the House of Lords, Penny Pepper dissects why it will hit disabled people the hardest
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The Concerning New Powers in Healthcare
The Health and Care Bill is returning to the Lords – as campaigners express concern that non-statutory, public/private bodies will soon have more power when it comes to commissioning healthcare across England
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Influential Figures Dictating Children’s Social Care Policy Via Government ‘Back Door’
Katharine Quarmby investigates how policy decisions around young people’s safeguarding are made – and which ideologies appear to prevail
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Government’s Refusal to Provide Care to Every Child Looked After by the State Shames Britain
Ministers have failed to see that an absence of care and nurturing lies at the heart of harms to children, says Carolyne Willow
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Cash-Strapped Councils and a Crisis in Children’s Care
A perfect storm of rising need, austerity and funding cuts has created a crisis in children’s social care, Sian Norris reports
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Another Death of an Abused Child – But Will the System Change?
Fears mount in the children’s care sector that the death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes may be used to force through changes to child protection, says Katharine Quarmby
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A Forgotten Crisis: Adults who have been in Care Struggling with Poor Health and High Mortality
Research has shown that children who grow up in care and endure adverse childhood experiences could be more vulnerable to long-term health issues such as auto-immune diseases
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Empty Shelves and Driver Shortages are Important – But So are the Disabled People Left Without Carers
The effect on the lives of disabled people of care workers reluctant to come from abroad, and a shortfall of those joining the profession in the UK, is being unsurprisingly ignored, says Penny Pepper
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Saccharine Narratives about Adoption are a Disservice to Children and Parents
This National Adoption Week, Andrew Taylor-Dawson – an adoptive parent himself – asks for a more nuanced approach to how Government and society thinks about adoption and its challenges
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Public Service, Private Interests: What Is Behind The Government’s Care Review?
Disposable, dispersible, profit-making – fears for the future of the children’s social care sector mount around the forthcoming Care Review
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How Vulnerable Children Become an Investment Opportunity
The growth of private sector involvement in the children’s social care sector has led to big profits for investors, while a crisis of poverty and inequality brings more vulnerable children into the ‘market’
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‘Everyone Is Forgetting About Us’: New Research Highlights how Government’s Social Care Reforms Sideline those with Learning Disabilities
Saba Salman reports on a forthcoming independent study, part-funded by the Department of Health and Social Care – the findings of which are in stark contrast to messages from Boris Johnson’s administration around adapting to the Coronavirus and reforming adult social care
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The Government Fails to Understand the Complexity at the Heart of Adoption
With the guarantee for care for over-16s due to end, alongside a desire to speed up the adoptive process from policy-makers, adoptive parents and campaigners argue for greater support
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Age Of Discrimination: Law Change Will Mean Children in Care Expected to Live Independently At Just 16
Children in care over the age of 16 will not be guaranteed care and may be moved into independent or semi-independent housing, reports Sophia Alexandra Hall
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The Great Social Care Gold Rush: How Hedge Funds and Private Investors are Distorting the ‘Market’ of People in Need
Katharine Quarmby and Sian Norris dig into the story behind the funding of the social care system, asking: who will benefit from the extra cash?
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Retired, Rich and Renting Out — Property Landlords Escape Tax Rises to Fund Social Care
The Government’s plan to raise taxes to pay for social care excludes income earned from renting, meaning wealthy landlords are protected from the increase
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The Child Asylum Seekers Accused of Faking their Ages by the Home Office
The Government has committed to resettling 5,000 Afghan refugees this year – but will they be met with the same culture of disbelief that has led to children seeking asylum struggling to get help?
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Why We Must Create Trauma-Informed Schools to Tackle Unequal Outcomes
Looked-after children are falling behind in school, but a trauma-informed approach could help those young people who have had difficult starts in life to flourish, says Andrew Taylor-Dawson
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Government ‘Fast-Tracking’ Children’s Social Care Review
Children’s rights charity accuses Minister Vicky Ford of failing to guarantee the Government will seek proper public consultation in reviewing the care of vulnerable children
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Rise in Use of Physical and Chemical Restraint on Vulnerable People during COVID Pandemic ‘A Public Health Emergency’
Katharine Quarmby reports how ‘out of sight, out of mind’ sedation and seclusion seems to be replacing what little care there was before for those with learning disabilities, older people, and individuals with mental health problems
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Health Department Whistleblower: Political Pressure ‘Watered-Down’ Public Health England Care Home Guidance Over COVID Testing
Nafeez Ahmed reports on an insider’s account of how the Department of Health and Social Care leaned on Public Health officials to drop Coronavirus testing of people transferred from hospitals into care homes
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Ten Years On from the Winterbourne View Scandal, A Human Rights Approach to those with Complex Needs is Still Missing
Saba Salman reports on how the Government could provide specialist support in a creative, humane way which takes people out of institutions and puts the individual at the centre of their care
