Social Workers need to read.

Whilst there is never any consolation when a child is murdered and blame serves no one, it does appear that the truth about a situation should be the very least we should all hope for

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/apr/02/baby-p-police-knew-lodger

I hope this brings some comfort to our Social Workers.

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Employment Tribunal Claims (but just for fun)

DON'T TRY THESE UNLESS YOUR REALLY LOOKING TO GET SACKED.

Sometimes you need to get sacked, but you just can't think of a really good act of gross misconduct. Here are some suggestions.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/etclaims/~3/_ropwrZCjis/
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Will MP's get it right?

MPs have called on the major parties to avoid "pre-election point-scoring" and come together to achieve consensus on social care reform.

The report from the Commons' health committee comes after a conference on Wednesday in which the Conservatives criticised health secretary Andy Burnham for failing to make up his mind on the way forward, with just three weeks to go until a white paper on social care is published.

Following Tory attacks over the 'death tax', one proposal among several being considered by Mr Burnham which would require a mandatory levy based on inheritance tax, cross-party talks have struggled.

"We would have liked to see all the political parties come together to map out sustainable reform, instead of indulging in pre-election point-scoring," today's report concludes.

"There is still an opportunity, though, in advance of the demographic challenges to come, to reform social care, achieving consensus and creating a lasting solution."

The report attacked the government's personal care at home bill, which proposes providing free care at home for around 250,000 of the neediest elderly.

"We have strong misgivings about the free personal care at home bill, which smacks of policy-making on the hoof," the report stated.

"This piecemeal reform risks creating perverse incentives and introducing unanticipated consequences."

Age Concern and Help the Aged, which hosted Wednesday's care summit, have called for the parties to work out where the extra public money needed to fund care in later life will come from.

"There is no such thing as a free lunch," director of policy and public affairs Andrew Harrop said.

"We urge them all to set out their plans in full before the election to give voters a choice. Politicians owe it to all of us to maintain the momentum behind care reform and come up with long-term solutions."



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White Paper on Future Funding of Social Care

The government took the first steps towards the establishment of a National Care Service today, in what has been described as "the biggest change to the welfare state since 1948".

The plans, published as a white paper today, would see a new tier to the NHS created in around five years time, paid for by a compulsory levy.

Health secretary Andy Burnham said: "Like the NHS, everyone will contribute and everyone will get their care for free when they need it."

The paper envisages a three stage plan towards the establishment of the service stretching over a five-year period, which would end the current arrangements where many pensioners are forced to sell their home to pay for care.

An explanation of how the scheme will be funded will not be provided immediately.

"Rome wasn't built in a day," said Mr Burnham. "We are undertaking a massive reform here... and if I'm honest there needs to be a longer debate on the funding issues."

The first stage will see Mr Burnham push to get the personal care at home bill passed before the election.

It will see 280,000 people with the highest needs receive free personal care in their home and allow 130,000 people to remain independent through the creation of re-ablement services in every community.

The second stage would take place early in the next parliament, culminating in the publication of a national care service bill to enshrine the foundations of a National Care Service into law.

The headline change at this stage is that, from 2014, anyone in residential care for more than two years will receive free care after the second year.

It will also see the creation of a commission to assess the best way for people to make their mandatory contributions and of a leadership group to advise the government on the implementation of the service.

It would enshrine a consistent national eligibility criteria into law, ensure every eligible person is offered a personal budget by 2012 and introduce reforms to ensure health and care services work together.

The final stage would come after the next parliament, probably in 2015, when a comprehensive National Care Service would offer all eligible adults in England free care when they need it "whoever they are, wherever they live and whatever condition leads to their need for care".

Local authorities will assess people's needs, and will provide support on the basis of what they would reasonably expect to pay for someone with those needs.

If people have chosen to enter a care home where the costs of care are higher than this assessed amount, they may need to make up the difference.

People on low incomes will continue to have all their residential care costs paid for them by the state.

Those in residential care, however, will still have to pay for their accommodation costs.

Mr Burnham said: "This is the biggest change to the welfare state since 1948 and, like the NHS, it's going to take time to build," he added.

"I feel very strongly that this is a responsibility we must all help to shoulder."

Five funding options were identified in the green paper as possible ways to pay for the system but the government rejected a purely tax-funded option as too expensive and a pay-for-yourself scenario as unfair.

It settled on a comprehensive option which would see everyone paying a compulsory contribution, to be determined by the commission.

The spending totals will be announced in the forthcoming spending review, published after the general election, but the government confirmed it would extend the role of NHS funding for social care in a new integrated system.

The subject has gradually become one of the defining issues of the election campaign, thanks to a growing consensus that the current means-tested system is no longer fit for purpose and will only get worse as Britain's ageing population problem becomes more severe.

Speaking in his podcast, Gordon Brown said: "Our current care and support system is no longer adequate for these challenges we see ahead. It cannot meet all our needs, nor match our aspirations. And if left unchanged, it would not cope with the extra demand in years to come.

"Our answer is bold, ambitious reform to create a system firmly rooted in the proudest traditions of our national health service: personal care, there for you when you need it."

Some councils are already limiting support to those most in need and thousands are selling family homes to pay for residential care.

Early government thinking suggested a levy could be put on people's estates when they die, a plan the Tories quickly dubbed a 'death tax'. The ensuing spat ended all chances of cross-party agreement on the issue.

"The death tax is alive and kicking – despite their attempts to bury it in the small print of policy in the hope people won't notice," said shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley in response to today's announcement.

"The simple fact remains that if Labour win the election, they'd introduce plans for a death tax to pay for care. Once again, when Gordon Brown sees a problem, his reaction is to place a new tax on working people.

"Labour have had thirteen years to sort this issue out. Their failure has caused misery for thousands of families. These proposals will do little to alleviate that suffering, thousands of people will still have to sell their family home to fund their care. "

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb branded the white paper lightweight.

"After 13 years in power spent ducking social care reform we probably shouldn't be surprised that Labour has once again hit it into the long grass," he said.

"A white paper without any commitment to substantial change in the next parliament is barely worth the paper it is written on."

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