Two-thirds of social workers report children living in dangerously mouldy homes

Two-thirds of social workers have witnessed children living in dangerous conditions with excessive levels of mould as they fear choices are being made between eating, paying rent or heating homes.

In what the Social Workers Union (SWU) has called a “national scandal” amid a cost of living crisis that is far from over, 61 per cent of children’s social workers reported young people are living in these mouldy environments, according to the new research among the union’s members.

At a wider level, the 2024 survey found that almost three-quarters of adult, child and mental health social workers (71 per cent) saw the people they support stop