Jenny Wheatley who was made redundant due to her anxiety and depression will lose her ESA as her husband earns £18,000. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian
Sign up to Society daily email briefing
Today's top SocietyGuardian stories
• As sickness benefit cuts take effect, thousands face hard times
• Many young cancer patients fail to get early diagnosis, survey reveals
• Cannabis production booming in Britain, say police
• Guy Hands' Terra Firma poised to buy Four Seasons care homes
• Boris Johnson has 'question marks' over budget, says deputy mayor
• Cardinal accuses David Cameron of 'immoral' behaviour and favouring rich
• As local elections near in Cheltenham, its residents offer a word of caution
• Leeds launches another community orchard beside one of its busiest commuter runs
All today's SocietyGuardian stories
The pick of the weekend's SocietyGuardian news and features
• Doctors back denial of treatment for smokers and the obese
• Probation officers to be replaced by electronic kiosks in pilot scheme
• The Saturday interview: Grant Shapps
• Can Jamie's school meals revolution survive the Gove recipe?
All Sunday's SocietyGuardian news and comment
All Saturday's SocietyGuardian news and comment
On the Guardian Professional Networks
• Live discussion from noon: regulation of social housing
• As town halls gear up for polling day, Kate Murray shares public servants' advice on building good working relationships with politicians
• Clients and colleagues look back over a 34-year career working with looked after children
• Cloud computing could transform charity IT infrastructure as it allows charities to scale up their function in times of peak demand, writes Dan Sutherland from Carrenza
On my radar ...
• A new report from the National Children's Bureau, which claims a significant minority of charities fear closure over the coming year. The Beyond the Cuts report, which is being launched at parliament today, estimates that the 34,000 charities in England working primarily with children and young people will lose £405 million in statutory funding in the five years from 2011-12 to 2015-16. Charities told the NCB they were having to reduce the number of staff or the range of services they provide because of the funding cuts, while others were developing consortia and considering mergers. And a small but significant minority said it was 'likely' or 'very likely' they would be forced to close in the next 12 months. Dr Hilary Emery, NCB's chief executive, said:
Funding cuts of close to half a billion pounds is not good news for children and young people. And it's not good news for a sector reeling from both the burden of an economic downturn, decreasing sources of public funding and increasing demands.
Shutting up shop is only a short term answer to a long term problem. While children's charities themselves must be at the forefront of creating solutions, there is still a role for national government to put its weight behind the development of new partnerships and new ways of working.
Meanwhile, entrepreneur Gina Miller, has today launched the Goodwill Exchange – the UK's first not-for-profit forum where professionals, such as accountants, lawyers, and business leaders can provide their specialist skills to small charities on a project basis. Miller says individual and corporate donors need to explore ways of giving differently to charities if smaller ones are to survive.
• MS Week, which starts today. The MS Society has made three films to help people understand what it's like to live with MS symptoms
• An interesting question posed by blogger David Higgerson: Who will get the blame if cities reject the idea of an elected mayor this week? He says the coalition has failed to make the case for directly elected mayors:
No-one can say for sure what additional powers elected mayors will be handed from government above and beyond those already enjoyed by councils. Indeed, one political editor working for a title I work with (disclaimer: I'm digital publishing director for Trinity Mirror Regionals) pointed out to me the fact that within the same bill which created elected mayors, there are 147 additional powers for Whitehall to intervene in the running of Town Halls.
The media can report what is happening, but it can't report a response that isn't there. How many posters have you seen in voting cities for or against the referendum? How much press advertising has there been? Type in 'elected mayors' or 'directly elected mayors' into Google and you have to scroll for pages until you find anything provided by Government which is meant to explain to people what an elected mayor can do for a city.
• A fascinating look back over decades of charity advertising, collated by Mark Phillips (thanks to Saba Salman for the link)
Other news
• BBC: 'Beds in sheds' targeted by national task force
• Children & Young People Now: Majority of local authorities lack child poverty strategies, 4Children finds
• Community Care: What service users want from social workers
• FT: Social care overhaul suffers delay
• Independent: Delays 'cost NHS £324m'
• Inside Housing: Government to set up 'beds in sheds' task force
• LocalGov.co.uk: Councils officials should 'roll up their sleeves' to help troubled families
• Public Finance: City mayors could start constitutional overhaul
• Telegraph: NHS risks becoming 'world health service' say campaigners
• Third Sector: Most charity Work Programme subcontractors 'have had no client referrals'
Awards - last chance to enter
Is your organisation using technology to revolutionise frontline services? Have you implemented a shared service that improves efficiency and saves money?
Enter the Innovation Nation awards – deadline for entries is 30 April.
Innovation Nation, in partnership with Virgin Media Business, is an initiative to uncover the most innovative organisations and chief information officers in the UK.
Events and seminars
Managing volunteers
Tuesday 15 May, Kings Cross, London
Engaging with volunteers is an increasingly challenging task. This half-day seminar will help you explore what 21st century volunteers want and what you need to do to involve them effectively. Delivered by leading expert Rob Jackson, this session is a must for anyone building a long-term volunteer engagement strategy.
Digital engagement surgery
Thursday 17 May, Kings Cross, London
This engaging and participatory workshop will look at real-life scenarios and how charities are using digital techniques to collaborate and communicate. Attendees will be asked bring challenges in with them (submitted advance), which will be shared in a workshop format to collectively tackle common themes running through the sector.
Successful bid writing
Friday 18 May, Kings Cross, London
Bid writing is an essential skill in voluntary sector organisations. This interactive seminar will help you create applications and bids that demonstrate your organisation's strengths and priorities, how you differ from other projects, what the benefits are for your clients and the community and how you'll be able to measure them.
Social media for health and social care
Thursday 31 May, Kings Cross, London
With massive changes facing health and social care provision the need for clear, open and accessible communication channels is greater than ever. Whether you are looking to improve engagement with patients, clients and peers, promote your services or increase media coverage, this practical, interactive seminar tailored for health professionals will show you how social media can help you do it.
Identifying, measuring and demonstrating social value
Tuesday 12 June, Kings Cross, London
The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 highlights the need for the public sector to ensure suppliers can demonstrate social, economic and environmental concerns are at the heart of public sector contracts.This seminar looks at the importance of measurement and assessment techniques, embedding social values through tendering and contract management, and a variety of evaluation and monitoring tools.
Scrutiny: making an impact
Tuesday 26 June, Kings Cross, London
This interactive seminar challenges traditional approaches to scrutiny, demonstrating in-depth questioning techniques and exploring the use of video evidence. It also considers the difference between a finding and a recommendation, how to word recommendations so they can't be ignored and work through good practice to evaluate each scrutiny process.
Making the most of social media for social housing
Friday 29 June, Kings Cross, London
This overview of social media channels will show you how to use them to maximum effect, with clear, practical examples of ways to save money, improve your communications and form a social media campaign
SocietyGuardian blogs
Patrick Butler's cuts blog
Sarah Boseley's global health blog
SocietyGuardian on social media
Follow SocietyGuardian on Twitter
Follow Patrick Butler on Twitter
Follow Clare Horton on Twitter
Follow Alison Benjamin on Twitter
SocietyGuardian's Facebook page
SocietyGuardian links
SocietyGuardian.co.uk
Guardian cutswatch - tell us about the cuts in your area
Public Leaders - the Guardian's website for senior managers of public services
The Guardian's public and voluntary sector careers page
Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs
SocietyGuardian editor: Alison Benjamin
Email the SocietyGuardian editor: society@guardian.co.uk