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Social investors urged to help end learning disability housing crisis

CommunityCare.co.uk LD services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Government cuts to social housing and capital spending are reducing housing options for learning disabled people. Mencap's housing arm is asking socially-minded investors to fill the gap through its new charity bond, says director Alastair Graham.
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Direct payments, personal budgets and individual budgets

CommunityCare.co.uk LD services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Direct payments and personal budgets are a central part of the personalisation agenda to give service users choice and control over their care and support.
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How Winterbourne-style placements can be brought to an end

CommunityCare.co.uk LD services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Chris Bull, the person charged with helping end inappropriate hospital placements for people with learning disabilities, outlines how he intends to support commissioners to achieve this aim.
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Criminal record checks relaxed for social care recruits

CommunityCare.co.uk Childrens services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Minor offences and cautions will be removed from records after a period of time, says government in response to court ruling.
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Council suspends senior manager ahead of critical Ofsted report

CommunityCare.co.uk Childrens services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Sandwell council is expected to receive a critical report into its children's services
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Unison to consult social workers on strikes after rejecting pay offers

CommunityCare.co.uk Childrens services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Union says councils' proposed offer of 1% pay rise but with cuts in benefits for social workers is "derisory" as it prepares to consult on industrial action.
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Social worker suspended for providing false references

CommunityCare.co.uk Childrens services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Practitioner barred for one year by Health and Care Professions Council panel after pleading guilty to providing false references for her sister and nephew.
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Firmer future for Scie as it wins contract to produce care guidance

CommunityCare.co.uk Childrens services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Social Care Institute for Excellence and partners awarded £1.8m-a-year contract to produce care quality guidance as it prepares to lose core government funding.
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A graduate's eye view of social care management

CommunityCare.co.uk Adult services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Natalie Crisp is one of this year's trainees on the National Skills Academy for Social Care's graduate management scheme. In the first of a series of diary pieces, she reflects on her first months at provider mcch
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Your chance to influence review of social care funding

CommunityCare.co.uk Adult services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
The introduction of a cap on individuals' liability for social care means the way government funding to is allocated to councils will have to change. Jude Ranasinghe explains how social care leaders can get involved in shaping this process.
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How social care commissioners can improve dementia services

CommunityCare.co.uk Adult services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Integrated care planning and provision, high-quality diagnostic services and good care co-ordination are all put forward as key to commissioning good-quality dementia care in new Nice guidance.
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Man jailed for fraudulently receiving £100,000 in direct payments

CommunityCare.co.uk Adult services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Kevin Arnold Kalloo faked impairments, failed to disclose his level of assets and income and claimed direct payments from two councils at the same time.
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Support and scrutiny of best interests assessors variable, finds CQC

CommunityCare.co.uk Adult services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Some councils making few checks on BIAs and providing little training, finds Care Quality Commission annual report on Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.
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How care homes can improve on the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards

CommunityCare.co.uk Adult services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Improved training for all staff, regular mental capacity assessments of residents and correctly using restraint are among the ways care homes need to improve their practice, says the Care Quality Commission.
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Criminal record checks relaxed for social care recruits

CommunityCare.co.uk Adult services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Minor offences and cautions will be removed from records after a period of time, says government in response to court ruling.
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Adult care staff urged to meet conduct and training standards

CommunityCare.co.uk Adult services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Emphasis on empowering service users, knowledge of Mental Capacity Act responsibilities and taking responsibility for personal developing in new workforce standards.
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Practice standards for best interests assessors launched

CommunityCare.co.uk Adult services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
College of Social Work sets six capabilities that councils should require of professionals appointed to make key recommendations about people under Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.
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Social care 'star ratings' set to return after review gives backing

CommunityCare.co.uk Adult services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:30
Aggregate ratings for social care services, delivered by the CQC, would fill public information gap on care quality and boost choice for users, finds review commissioned by government.
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What social workers need to know about the new NHS

CommunityCare.co.uk Adult services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 11:53
1 April saw the biggest reform to the NHS in its 65-year history, bringing substantial changes for health professionals in England. But what does it means for their social care counterparts and for integrated working between the two services?
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Advice for social workers for when care arranged by clients is poor

CommunityCare.co.uk Adult services news - Fri, 04/05/2013 - 11:49
How should social care professionals support self-funders or direct payment recipients when the care they arrange for themselves is of poor quality. Pete Morgan of the Practitioner Alliance for Safeguarding Adults provides advice
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Recent Additions and Updates

If I were running the country - encouraging business

Submitted by Hugo_Minney on Tue, 05/21/2013 - 09:33

Keywords:

Minimum wage

Fantasy government - what would I do if I were in government?  Well how about reduce corporation tax, increase income tax, increase minimum wage and invest in job creation in the regions?  That would be a good start - create jobs where there are workers, then make sure that the right amount of tax is collected and at the same time reduce spend on benefits which are only used to increase profits of selfish organisations.

Would it work?  Have your say.

PwC Report on the Current State of Project Management

Submitted by Hugo_Minney on Fri, 05/17/2013 - 10:44

Keywords:

PwC Project Management ReportPwC found that successful companies are getting more mature in their project management ability.  This raises the game – successful companies have lower costs from fewer failed projects, and less successful companies have to work harder to catch up.  There are some important lessons to take this report for everyone – Read more…

Joy instead of tedium

Submitted by Hugo_Minney on Fri, 05/10/2013 - 21:04

Keywords:

The Office

Every office has them - the tasks that have to be done that nobody likes doing.  Whether it's the audit, the wages, standard letters, whatever it is - someone has to do it and it feels like a waste of time and money.

Why should you care?

So you employ somebody, so why do you care about how tedious the task is? Well they are costing money, to do something that could be done far more effectively.

Learning from the Past

Submitted by HugoM on Fri, 05/10/2013 - 20:27

Evidence for service improvement

Many public service changes have little basis in evidence. Their success (or otherwise) does not appear to depend on how 'good' the policy itself is, but rather on how it has been implemented. This relies on staff attitudes and relationships. My research falls into a number of broad categories: finding out what is currently happening; what people think about it; and what people think it will mean.

Keywords:

Taxonomy upgrade extras:

Consumer Price Index (CPI) Calculator for SROI

Submitted by Hugo_Minney on Tue, 04/16/2013 - 10:05

Keywords:

CPI components

When calculating a Social Return on Investment (SROI) evaluation or SROI forecast , sometimes you have to rely on published figures from reports.  But if these are from a few years ago, then they probably need adjusting for inflation.

There are calculators on the web to do this for you, but I found them cumbersome and it was difficult to keep a record of what calculator I'd used, and how, for which value - auditability and transparency is vital for SROI.  So here's a spreadsheet to do this properly!

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