Social work news

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• Social work cartoon: ‘IR35’

  29-11-2019 14:05 via communitycare.co.uk
  
  Related‘Leaving the local authority sector after IR35, I feel i’ve gone back to proper social work’
  Tax fears and staffing pressures: agency social workers on life after ‘IR35’
  
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• Happy World Social Work Day 2025!

  18-03-2025 08:46 via communitycare.co.uk
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.Community Care would like to wish everyone in the profession a very happy World Social Work Day 2025!
  While we know that it’s in the nature of social workers not to blow their own trumpets, we salute each and every one of you for the critical work that you do, and hope you feel today is a day when  you – and the profession across the globe – are truly celebrated.
  We kn
  
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• Senior mental health lead training

  17-03-2025 15:24 via gov.uk
  
  How to access senior mental health lead training.
  
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• Promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges

  17-03-2025 15:24 via gov.uk
  
  Find resources to help you develop a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing.
  
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• Guidance: Effective senior post holder appraisal and chair performance review

  17-03-2025 15:16 via gov.uk
  
  Information on reviewing procedures and ensuring best practice for the appraisal of senior further education post holders and the performance of governing body chairs.
  
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• Black social worker representation halves between front line and management, data shows

  17-03-2025 14:07 via communitycare.co.uk
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.The representation of Black social workers in the children’s services workforce in English councils halves between the front line and management, Department for Education (DfE) data has shown.
  There is also a drop-off in the proportion of Asian practitioners and those from mixed or multiple ethnic groups at senior levels, compared with the front line, according to the figures, which da
  
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• Social Workers, Family Safeguarding Team

  17-03-2025 09:45 via communitycare.co.uk
  
  https://jobs.communitycare.co.uk/job/1401767436/social-workers-family-safeguarding-team
  
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• CQC sets out lessons from first tranche of local authority adults’ services assessments

  17-03-2025 09:22 via communitycare.co.uk
  
  The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has set out lessons from the first tranche of assessments of local authority adults’ services since it resumed performance checks in December 2023.
  It said that support for carers was in need of improvement, while authorities also needed to enhance their understanding of population equality and diversity issues and use of data, though reablement was an area of strength.
  CQC deputy directors Amanda Stride and Lella Andrews made the comments in a presentatio
  
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• An update on the Mental Health Bill’s passage through Parliament

  17-03-2025 09:00 via communitycare.co.uk
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
  By Tim Spencer-Lane
  The Mental Health Bill, which would amend the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA), has now passed through committee stage in the House of Lords after five days of debate.
  This stage allows peers to scrutinise the detail of a bill, although by convention no votes are taken on tabled amendments.
  Committee stage normally provides an important indicator of which issues peers are in
  
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• Flawed UK visa scheme led to ‘horrific’ care worker abuse, says watchdog

  16-03-2025 11:00 via theguardian.com
  Anti-slavery commissioner says scheme to plug staffing gaps post-Brexit was a ‘blunt instrument’ that enabled exploitation of the vulnerableA post-Brexit visa scheme to fill vacancies in social care was badly designed and enabled “horrific” abuse of migrant workers, the UK’s anti-slavery watchdog has said.Commissioner Eleanor Lyons said the care worker visa route introduced by the Conservatives in February 2022 had caused avoidable harm and “some really severe
  
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• Crack teams get patients off waiting lists at twice the speed

  16-03-2025 09:28
  
  Sending top doctors into areas of highest economic inactivity is busting through the backlog.
  
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• Education Secretary's speech at the ASCL conference

  14-03-2025 16:11 via gov.uk
  
  The Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, speech at the Association of School and College Leaders.
  
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• ‘How reablement can better support independence and quality of life’

  14-03-2025 16:04 via communitycare.co.uk
  
  By Deborah Rozansky, Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)
  Reablement services play a critical role in maintaining people’s independence and quality of life. Most frequently used to support people’s recovery after a hospital stay, reablement can also be preventive, reducing the need for hospital admissions or long-term residential care.
  However, our research has shown that reablement is misunderstood, potentially preventing people from fully benefiting from it. Inconsistent sta
  
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• Social workers urged to share experience of using AI in practice

  14-03-2025 13:18 via communitycare.co.uk
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.Social workers are being urged to share their views and experiences in relation to using artificial intelligence (AI) in practice, to inform research into the issue.
  The survey, which is also open to social work employers and educators, along with local authority data, performance or innovation leads, forms part of a Social Work England project to examine AI’s impact on the profession.
  
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• Proposed review of the statutory scheme for branded medicines pricing

  14-03-2025 12:00
  
  This consultation seeks views on proposals to update the statutory scheme to control the cost of branded health service medicines.
  
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• Lack of staff and beds leading to ‘harmful’ gaps in mental healthcare, warns CQC

  14-03-2025 11:55 via communitycare.co.uk
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
  A lack of staff and hospital beds, at a time of “overwhelming demand”, is leading to “harmful” gaps in mental healthcare, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has said.
  As a result, people were being discharged prematurely, often without adequate community support, leading to cycles of readmission to hospital, with increasing use of inappropriate out-of-area placements.
  
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• Corporate report: Monitoring the Mental Health Act: 2023 to 2024

  14-03-2025 10:34
  
  The Care Quality Commission’s annual report on the use of the Mental Health Act 1983.
  
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• Research: The impact of school absence on lifetime earnings

  14-03-2025 10:30 via gov.uk
  
  This report estimates the monetary impact of one day of school absence in state-funded secondary schools.
  
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• Research: Link between attendance and attainment

  14-03-2025 10:30 via gov.uk
  
  Report showing that school attendance is associated with higher average academic performance in an assessment year across all pupils from all backgrounds.
  
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• Help and support for colleges

  13-03-2025 17:55 via gov.uk
  
  Information about the range of help and support available from the Further Education Commissioner, Department for Education and delivery partners.
  
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• World’s largest quango scrapped under reforms to put patients first

  13-03-2025 15:35
  
  Changes to NHS England will reduce bureaucracy, make savings and empower NHS staff to deliver better care for patients.
  
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• NHS England: Health and Social Care Secretary's statement

  13-03-2025 14:49
  
  The Health and Social Care Secretary made a statement to the House of Commons on plans to abolish NHS England.
  
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• Government curbs overseas recruitment with providers required to prioritise staff already in England

  13-03-2025 13:12 via communitycare.co.uk
  
  Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.The government has curbed the recruitment of care staff from overseas with adults’ providers in England instead required to prioritise hiring international workers already in the country.
  Ministers said the measure, which comes into force on 9 April 2025, was designed to provide work for care staff who had come to England and then been exploited, leaving them without a job.
  However, pr
  
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• Primary school SuDS schemes finished by the Preston flood scheme

  13-03-2025 12:20 via gov.uk
  
  SuDS schemes reduce flood risk by temporarily storing rainwater; reducing its flow and surface water runoff. Three primary schools have benefited.
  
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• Transparency data: Turing Scheme funding outcomes 2023 to 2024

  13-03-2025 11:00 via gov.uk
  
  The results of applications for funding for international study and work placements from schools, further education providers and higher education providers.
  
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• Transparency data: Turing Scheme funding outcomes 2022 to 2023

  13-03-2025 11:00 via gov.uk
  
  The results of applications for funding for international study and work placements from schools, further education providers and higher education providers.
  
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• Transparency data: Turing Scheme funding outcomes 2021 to 2022

  13-03-2025 11:00 via gov.uk
  
  How funding was allocated and used by successful applicants to the first year of the Turing Scheme.
  
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• Guidance: Support offer to international ASC workers whose employer's sponsor licence has been revoked

  13-03-2025 11:00
  
  Document outlining the support available to adult social care (ASC) workers in England affected by the revocation of their employer's sponsor licences.
  
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• ‘My manager has gone above and beyond for me’

  13-03-2025 09:51 via communitycare.co.uk
  
  Our My Brilliant Colleague series invites you to celebrate anyone who has inspired you in your career.
  In this entry, mental health practitioner Sam celebrates her manager, Claire, who, despite knowing her for a short time, has supported her throughout major life and professional changes.I would like to nominate my senior and new manager, Claire.I’ve recently started with a new mental health team, started a social work apprenticeship and left my abusive husband.Claire has stuck by me, supp
  
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• New rules to prioritise recruiting care workers in England

  12-03-2025 17:53
  
  Employers will be required to prioritise recruiting international care workers already in England before recruiting from overseas.
  
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