The single biggest source of errors in residential care, supported living, and domiciliary services is not the medication round, not the personal care, not the nursing intervention. It is the shift handover. Medication errors trace back to a missed instruction at handover. Family complaints trace back to a phone call…

The formal training for a CQC, Care Inspectorate, or Care Inspectorate Wales inspection covers the obvious things. The quality statements. The key lines of enquiry. How to brief staff. How to prepare the documentation. How to handle the formal interview. Anyone who has registered as a manager has been through…

There is a moment in most UK care services, repeated four or five times a year, that costs the provider money for no operational benefit. A new care worker starts. The administrator pulls up the DBS portal, processes a new Enhanced DBS check with barred list, pays the £42 fee…

On Wednesday 27 May 2026, the British Medical Association announced that resident doctors in England will strike from 7am on 15 June to 7am on 19 June. It will be the sixteenth round of industrial action by resident doctors since the dispute began in March 2023. Three rounds of five-day…

The London Borough of Hackney has opened a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for emergency accommodation, and it’s open to local hotels, B&Bs and guest houses. The Council wants to stop spot purchasing rooms at standard commercial rates. Instead, it’s looking for accommodation providers to come on board through a contract,…

Subcontracting in UK health and social care contracts is one of those topics that sits quietly in the contract pack until something goes wrong. Most providers signing prime contracts give the subcontracting clauses a careful first read, mark them as standard, and move on. The subcontracting language reads the same…

East Sussex County Council’s Adult Social Care Department has reopened applications to its Approved List for Supported Living Services for Working Age Adults. The Council is inviting providers to join the existing Approved List for the remainder of its current lifetime, with applications closing on 11 June 2026 at 06:00.…

The National Procurement Policy Statement landed on 24 February 2025, alongside the Procurement Act 2023 coming fully into force. At the time, the commentary from the trade press was muted. The Fieldfisher analysis called it “somewhat underwhelming, covering largely predictable and well-trodden themes such as value for money, encouragement for…

Pension Age Disability Payment has been the largest cash transfer of Scotland’s devolved welfare programme so far. Between its launch on 21 October 2024 and the end of January 2026, Social Security Scotland issued around £358.1 million in payments to 175,750 individuals through more than a million separate payments. The…

Birmingham City Council has opened P2269, an Open Framework for the provision of temporary accommodation through the private rented sector and private registered providers of social housing. The framework runs for three years from award, with an option to extend by a further two years in yearly increments. Unlike a…