Welfare

Gang of council officers given 17-year total jail sentence after stealing more than £1m from three London authorities

20.03.19: A group of corrupt council workers who invented welfare claims to steal more than £1m from three London councils have been sentenced to prison for a total of 17 years. The seven benefit assessors worked at Lambeth, Kingston, and Barki...

Councils turn away thousands of homeless youth due to lack of funding

03.05.18: A leading charity has today revealed that the majority of young homeless (or at risk of homelessness) people who reached out to local government were not met with “positive actions”, leading to their homelessness not “being suc...

‘More to be done’ to build public confidence in reporting suspected child abuse

16.03.18: More than two in five adults who have worried about the welfare of a child have not reported their concerns, new research has revealed. In a recent survey, over a quarter of adults said that they had been concerned about the welfare, neglect, o...

CQC calls on councils deal with children’s mental health ‘crisis points’

08.03.18: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has criticised local and central government measures on children’s mental health, urging for more cooperation between health and care organisations. In a new review of the state of children’s ca...

Councils receive child protection referral every 49 seconds

06.03.18: Mandatory reporting would not address the current challenges in protecting children in the UK, the LGA has argued. The comments come following the government’s response to the consultation, ‘Reporting and acting on child abuse and n...

Newcastle praised for ‘swift’ reaction to sexual exploitation of vulnerable residents

26.02.18: A joint review into Newcastle City Council has found that the authority’s reaction to reports of sexual exploitation of both children and adults was deserving of its “independent national recognition.” The report, complete...

LGO disappointed with council’s response to family ‘injustice’

16.02.18: The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has today hit out at the Council of the Isles of Scilly for its belated response to a report highlighting injustices caused by the authority’s faults. The original complaint report was issued in Au...

Local government finance settlement: Javid announces £150m care fund

06.02.18: The housing and communities secretary has today revealed details of this year’s local government finance settlement, including £150m of extra funding for adult social care. Sajid Javid made the announcement this morning, while a...

‘Significant increase in the pace of change’ found in Norfolk council children’s services

22.01.18: Ofsted has improved the rating of children’s services at Norfolk County Council, removing it from intervention measures for the first time in five years. Most of the services provided by the council were rated as ‘requires impro...

‘Forgotten unemployed’ missing out on needed benefits

03.01.18: Many of Britain’s poorest people are missing out on benefits to which they are entitled, a report published this week has claimed. According to the report, “Falling through the cracks,” unemployed or very low earners are missi...

Labour: Universal Credit directly hitting councils

02.01.18: Labour’s shadow minister for employment has attacked the government’s Universal Credit policy, arguing it is forcing councils to “pick up the pieces” and prepare for further damage. Margaret Greenwood said councils a...

UC proposals will leave one million poverty-stricken children without school meals

19.12.17: Under the current Universal Credit (UC) proposals there will be a million children in poverty who do not receive free school meals, says the Children’s Society. As UC has been rolled out, all families in receipt of the benefit have be...

Andy Burnham: the crisis unfolding in front of our eyes

10.12.17: With homelessness on the rise across the country, politicians in central and local government are desperately looking for new solutions. Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, tells PSE’s Josh Mines about his plans to stamp out rough s...

National Transfer Scheme extended to whole of UK

08.12.17: The National Transfer Scheme (NTS) will be extended to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis has announced. The voluntary scheme, which supports local authorities to transfer the care of unaccompanied children to another local aut...

London council to launch ‘ethical debt collection’ for residents

23.11.17: Hammersmith and Fulham Council (H & F) have launched “ethical debt collections” service in a bid to reduce costs to residents. The council are working with a private firm on the joint venture, setting out to both improve the...