Green light for legal challenge against council cap on care packages

Social work evidence to carry greater weight with Court of Protection

Court expected to revise guidance to make it clear it will accept mental capacity assessments from social workers, and not just from doctors, psychologists or therapists.

Adult social workers face assessment and safeguarding overhaul

Adult social workers face a new practice landscape for safeguarding and care management from 2015, under the government’s Care Bill, published today.

England and Wales go their separate ways on social care law

Separate pieces of legislation England and Wales will push the two countries even further apart in terms of their social care systems, says Ed Mitchell.

Council breached equality duty in setting care home fees

A local authority is to review care home fees after the High Court found it failed to consider impact of possible home closures on vulnerable residents.

How the law decides responsibility for funding mental health care

A recent case shows that councils can still be made responsible for funding a person's mental health aftercare even if they have no previous connection with the area, says legal columnist Ed Mitchell.

Stabbed social worker case exposes duties to staff in partner agencies

A judgement that allowed a stabbed social worker to sue the two health trusts responsible for her attacker's care suggests partner agencies have more responsibiltiy for each others' staff than was previously assumed, says legal columnist Ed Mitchell.

Where social workers are going wrong on the Mental Capacity Act

Five years on from the Act's implementation, risk-averse practice is preventing its principles of empowerment and support from being realised, argues social worker and lecturer Elmari Bishop.

Legal change likely to increase social workers' looked-after child caseloads

With just months to go before children remanded in custody are given looked-after status, Judy Cooper finds that caseloads are likely to rise and there is still much uncertainty on key issus

"We must get better at evidencing neglect - and here's how"

The child protection system is caught in an 'unhealthy cycle' that loses sight of the child, says Joanna Nicolas*. Here she looks at where professionals are going wrong and the best ways of ensuring neglect cases are taken seriously in court.

How to use the law to fight social care spending cuts

With more than 150,000 local authority jobs under threat, and councils proposing to cut services due to funding pressures, social care staff and service users are increasingly concerned about their prospects. But there may be ways in which they can use the law to challenge and overturn councils' decisions.

Powers of entry to stop abuse mooted for social workers

Ministers consult on giving professionals power to enter premises to see adults at risk where entry is barred by a third party and coercion is suspected.