Welfare

Our stories should be strengths on which we build

18.04.17: Carolyn Wilkins OBE, CEO of Oldham Council, discusses the important role local government can play in enabling and empowering people to tell their own positive stories. In Oldham, we’re constantly looking for ways to improve in our ro...

Benefit cuts and tax changes to hit poorest third of households hardest

03.04.17: The richest half of the population will benefit from four fifths of the cuts to tax and benefits that the government will introduce this week, a report by the Resolution Foundation has revealed. In plans that are set to be implemented...

Cuts to funds driving challenges to children’s care to ‘a whole new dimension’

21.03.17: Councils are facing “a whole new dimension” of issues with children’s social care due to the increasingly complex and difficult challenges stemming from online grooming and refugee children, a report published by the All-Party...

Children in poor areas ‘10 times’ more likely to be in cash-strapped care system

28.02.17: A UK-wide study has found that children in the country’s poorest areas are at least 10 times more likely to be involved in the child protection system than those in the most affluent areas, a statistic that has highlighted the state of ine...

Services failing children with complex needs as national data ‘not fit for purpose’

23.02.17: Concern has been voiced by the National Children’s Bureau that government and local authority services for children with complex needs are insufficient to cater for a growing number of children and families requiring specialist care. ...

Handful of councils bearing the brunt as refugees concentrated in most deprived areas

31.01.17: The government’s future accommodation contracts used to house asylum seekers must address the challenges in securing housing in other local authority areas, especially where there is limited availability or where housing is expensive, coun...

LGA calls for devolution of job centres

20.01.17: Job centres do not help enough unemployed people get back to work, hence why employment and skills funding should be devolved to councils for an integrated place-based strategy instead, the LGA has said. Analysis by the Learning and Working...

NAO: Risks of outsourcing HMRC tax credits ‘outweighed the benefits’

17.01.17: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will not use another third-party provider to review and correct tax credit payments after its disastrous contract with Concentrix, a new report has said. The National Audit Office’s (NAO’s) report...

BASW: Nine out of ten social workers want an independent regulator

10.01.17: Almost 90% of social workers in England believe that regulation of their work should stay independent of government, according to a new poll of the profession. The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) surveyed 1,100 of its members a...

Child development a ‘life chances postcode lottery’

03.01.17: The poorest children in wealthy local authorities are falling behind on key development goals compared to their richer peers by the age of five, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found. Analysis from the charity showed that the local autho...

Winners of new homelessness prevention funding announced

22.12.16: The successful bidders for new national funding to reduce homelessness have been announced. In a visit to Thames Reach Employment Academy in Southwark yesterday, prime minister Theresa May and the communities secretary, Sajid Javid, reveale...

Councils awarded share of £25m disabilities fund

21.12.16: The winners of £25m of funding to help local people with learning disabilities live in their own homes have been announced. The Department of Health fund will be used to adapt existing houses and create new accommodation. Measures to...

Misleading to claim Troubled Families programme worked

20.12.16: The flagship Troubled Families Programme prioritised ‘tick in a box’ results over delivering a meaningful impact and suffered from severe delays in publishing its evaluation, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has found. The pr...

Lambeth Council to pay tens of millions to Shirley Oaks survivors

19.12.16: Lambeth Council has publicly apologised and paid out tens of millions of pounds in compensation  after a new report revealed the abuse suffered by thousands of children in its Shirley Oaks care homes, which was one of the biggest care homes...

‘Unacceptably slow’ reforms leaving children at risk, warn MPs

16.12.16: Child protection services are failing to show improvement despite promises from the Department for Education (DfE) to deliver reforms, leaving many children at risk of harm, the Public Accounts Committee has argued in a new report. The DfE...