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social services

  • November 26, 2020
    Unprecedented demand for social care with unpaid carers at breaking point

    Tens of thousands of people are turning to social services for urgent help because of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on families and individuals with support needs, who are unable to cope any further on their own, or whose usual arrangements have broken down.

  • January 19, 2020
    ACLU comments on proposed Trump administration regulations on religious freedom

    Religious freedom is a fundamental right, but it does not confer a license to discriminate, says the American Civil Liberties Union.

  • July 2, 2019
    Councils seeing more than 560 child mental health cases every day

    Social services are seeing more than 560 cases of children with mental health disorders every day – an increase of more than 50 per cent in just four years.

  • October 12, 2017
    Adult social care 'perilously close to becoming unsustainable'

    The President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services says, “Our latest survey findings should act as a fresh wake-up call to government that adult social care is coming perilously close to becoming unsustainable."

  • November 3, 2014
    The 'Baby P' case and confession: tackling child protection failings

    The death of 'Baby P' was followed by a damaing rush to judgement, says Savi Hensman. She considers the response of the Church of England and how it could be part of the wider task of countering violence and cooperating with other people of goodwill to build a more just and peaceful world.

  • September 8, 2014
    Rotherham, ‘political correctness’ and child protection

    There has been widespread anger since an inquiry revealed that at least 1,400 children were sexually exploited in Rotherham from 1997-2013. Yet many adults in Britain are still in denial about the extent and seriousness of child sexual abuse.

  • July 18, 2014
    Farewell to the fourth floor and the austerity agenda

    Welfare, education and the NHS are all being hit by the same cuts, driven, not by a desire to improve the national debt (which is now significantly worse than 2010), says Virginia Moffatt, but by a poisonous ideology that private profit must come before common good. "So I decided that the time had come to move somewhere, where I can be in a position to challenge that ideology. I have joined Ekklesia as the new Chief Operating Officer, because I can see what an important role a think-tank linking good quality research and ideas to civic action, political change and a positive role for churches and other NGOs can play in influencing mainstream politics. That is what I want to be part of."

  • July 11, 2014
    Giveaway sale as public services struggle to cope

    Low share prices when the UK government privatised Royal Mail cost the taxpayer around £1 billion, a parliamentary committee has reported. Meanwhile the National Health Service and social services are in financial crisis.

  • May 27, 2011
    Kirk's social care arm calls for government funding commitment

    Scotland's largest voluntary social care organisation has urged the government to maintain their investment in services despite the tough financial climate.

  • March 28, 2011
    Government social services review: value or 'burden'?

    A UK government review of local authority duties has raised further fears about the future of social services, says Savi Hensman/ Yet, against a background of harsh spending cuts, this is also an opportunity for people and civil society organisations - including churches and faith bodies - to declare whether they believe that children and adults should be able to get the support they need.