Catholic Church details extent of child abuse by priests
The Catholic Church has published a review of its handling of more than 52 allegations of sexual abuse by priests in the Diocese of Raphoe in Northern Ireland.
30 November 2011
Social workers join strike action in Northern Ireland today
Social workers across Northern Ireland are taking part in strikes today in protest against budget cuts and subsequent workplace pressures.
05 October 2011
Social worker suspended after child protection failings
A social worker who allowed a man under investigation for sexual abuse to stay at a house where children were living has been suspended for nine months.
06 October 2011
'Unsustainable' social care services face overhaul
Social care services in Northern Ireland face an overhaul after the country's health minister today declared them "unsustainable in their current form". Edwin Poots said he wanted service users to live more independently.
26 August 2011
Care assistant suspended for abusing elderly service user
An experienced care assistant who physically and verbally abused an elderly service user in Northern Ireland has been suspended from practising for six months.
24 August 2011
Emergency duty payment cuts condemned
Plans to slash emergency duty payments to social workers by about 60% are "utterly unacceptable", says the Northern Ireland Association of Social Workers.
22 August 2011
Northern Ireland social workers to be balloted on strike
Social workers and care staff across Northern Ireland are set to take part in strikes over fears that budget cuts will lead to widespread job losses.
17 August 2011
Social care workforce regulation in the UK explained
The divergence in social care policies introduced and proposed by the four home nations is matched by a similarly inconsistent approach to workforce regulation, writes Gordon Carson
16 March 2011
Care worker suspended over medication blunder
A care worker who failed to give a service user medication and then tried to hide her mistake has been suspended from the register in Northern Ireland.
10 August 2011
Courts let hundreds of sex offenders work with children
Hundreds of convicted child sex offenders were allowed to work with children in Northern Ireland after courts failed to disqualify them, new figures have shown.
20 June 2011
One in nine teenagers sexually groomed in Northern Ireland
One in nine teenagers in Northern Ireland have been sexually groomed by an adult, according to research published today.
15 April 2011
Social care work across the UK's borders
Devolution has led to increasingly diverse agendas in the social care sector. Is this presenting more obstacles to social care workers hoping to transfer their skills to a new working environment? Gordon Carson reports
25 March 2011
Northern Ireland regulator backs social care registration
The chair of the Northern Ireland Social Care Council has backed ministers' plans to roll out registration for all care workers in the country, saying it will affirm their status as professionals.
22 February 2011
Social services in Northern Ireland face major job losses
Adult social care and children's services in Northern Ireland face significant job losses amid concern that a small growth in expenditure will be insufficient to meet rising demand.
20 December 2010
Northern Irish case management reviews could be made public
Northern Irish case management reviews (CMRs) could be published after a children's services redesign.
09 December 2010
How to defuse aggressive situations
A survey of more than 230 social care workers indicated that 101 had never received training in defusing aggressive situations involving service users.
15 October 2010
Carers of children with autism win High Court ruling
Forty-one families with autistic children were wrongly told their needs could not be assessed because of a lack of resources, according to a High Court ruling against Northern Ireland's Western Health and Social Care Trust.
21 September 2010
Sector leaders shocked and surprised by abolition of GSCC
'Surprised' and 'gobsmacked' are just two of the stunned reactions from social care sector leaders as they come to terms with the government's decision to abolish the GSCC.
26 July 2010
Research realities: Assessing early intervention programmes
Research analyst Susannah Bowyer examines difficulties in assessing the effectiveness of early intervention schemes
23 July 2010
Sector concern as NHS regulators encroach on social care
Government plans to give healthcare monitoring bodies powers over social care have sparked concerns from sector head, including Ruth Cartwright, of the British Association of Social Workers
15 July 2010
