Daily roundup 23 October: Social work recruitment, internships, and EastEnders

A programme has been launched to retrain social workers who have left the profession to work in both children and adult social care. The Local Government Association, in partnership with central government and with the support of the Government Equalities Office, aims to retrain 100 social workers through its Return to Social Work programme, with the West Midlands, East of England and London earmarked as the first regions to take part in the initiative.


An overwhelming majority of the British public support the introduction of a legal ban on unpaid internships lasting four weeks or more. New polling figures, released by the Social Mobility Commission, found that 72 per cent of the public back a change in the law - with 42 per cent "strongly supporting" a ban.


The British Association of Social Workers has written an open letter to the producers of EastEnders calling for "more accurate, and more positive, depictions of social workers and social work". The organisation said the storyline on the BBC soap opera involving a social worker issuing child protection measures sparked outcry from some social workers who felt their profession had been misrepresented.


A record number of 50 children a week are being referred to gender realignment doctors. The Mirror reports that children aged just four are among those believing they want to change their sex. Experts said the growing ­acceptance of gender issues may have fuelled the rise in the number of children being referred.


Online gambling companies have been urged to remove adverts featuring images likely to appeal to children. The BBC reports that regulators have said the "unacceptable" ads and third-party media, which contain graphics and images that are likely to be attractive to minors, should be "immediately" removed or amended.