Society daily 19.09.12

Chancellor George Osborne — George Osborne said in the budget that an extra £10bn in welfare cuts was designed to avoid much deeper cuts to health and education. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Today's top SocietyGuardian stories

• Benefit freeze considered as Osborne seeks more welfare cuts
• Benefits and inflation: what the government proposals mean
• Alison Garnham: Freezing benefits would mean an all-out assault on poor families
• Teenage victims of domestic violence targeted as definition is extended
• 1m Britons have headaches from overusing painkillers
• Business leaders and economists call for reform of national public sector pay
• Eleven NHS foundation trusts have serious financial problems, MPs told
• Royal Mail chief backs staff quotas for women
• Work and play: 10 volunteering holidays
All today's SocietyGuardian stories

In today's SocietyGuardian section

• Disabled prisoners' lives put at risk by poor care and treatment in jail
• A framework for parenting programmes
• Chris Mould, social entrepreneur: a question of responsibility
• GPs are in the dark about NHS reforms
• Righting the wrongs of my rightwing stepfather
• The transfer of NHS assets to a central company marks the end of localism

Jobs of the week

• Centre manager, Freedom from Torture: "The role includes providing clinical and managerial leadership to a growing group of staff and volunteers and contributing to the strategic development of the National Clinical Department. You will also hold a small caseload of psychological therapy clients. This is a unique opportunity to use your clinical and managerial skills to lead a service supporting a highly vulnerable client group."
• Director of finance, St Joseph's Hospice, London E8
• Chief executive officer, Mencap, Leeds
• Director general, UK Border Force
The Guardian's public and voluntary sector careers page
Hundreds of public and voluntary sector jobs

On the Guardian Professional Networks

• Live discussion: how can the NHS be more innovative?
• To tweet or not to tweet: social media advice for public sector leaders
• The National Housing Federation conference ends with a debate on the biggest question of them all – are housing professionals facing the demise of the sector?
• We must continue to celebrate the success of people with disabilities in living ordinary and extraordinary lives, writes Pollyanna Perkins
• Charity professionals shouldn't avoid talking about difficult subjects, says Caron Bradshaw

On my radar ...

• A new campaign by sexual health charities Brook and FPA. They are calling for action to halt the "worrying erosion of contraceptive rights and choice in the UK". The campaign is called XES – We Can't Go Backwards, and the charities warn of a "toxic mix" of circumstances that could lead to a crisis in unplanned pregnancy, abortion and sexual health. The FPA chief executive, Julie Bentley, said:

We are seeing the beginnings of a crisis in this critical women's health issue. Modern contraception is effective in stopping unplanned pregnancy and is also highly cost effective. But it is simply useless if women are stopped from accessing and using it. A woman's reproductive years span over half of her lifetime and every reproductive choice she makes carries social, economic, and personal consequences. There's a genuine risk that we're slipping back to the dark ages. We cannot stand by and wait for the crisis to happen – we've got to act now.

• The Olympic legacy and volunteering. On her blog, Helen Milner, chief executive of of UK online centres, asks how enthusiasm and respect for volunteering and volunteers can be sustained:

A lot has already been said and written about the 'Games Makers', the army of 70,000 volunteers that helped crowds get around the Olympic park, drove athletes and officials between venues, and took on many other duties so that the games ran smoothly. Sebastian Coe said they stood 'among the heroes of London 2012'. What I'd love now is to see this warmth and appreciation for this group harnessed so we can encourage others to volunteer in communities.
... There are over 20,000 volunteers within the UK online centres network so I've seen first hand just how huge an impact they can have - our network simply wouldn't run without them. This is why I hope, with the help of great resources such as the Do it website and Volunteering England, the volunteering spirit that has inspired us this summer will carry on supporting communities all over the country.

(thanks to Dave Briggs for the link)

• A really interesting post by an anonymous tweeter based in a West Midlands probation hostel, explaining why they tweet:

What I try to do is offer a balanced flavour of life on the Probation frontline. Sure I'm restricted to an extent but hopefully my tweets paint a picture of life in Approved Premises which somewhere approaches the reality. Yes the role of APs is crucial in protecting the public, and yes there are as many lows as highs. It's a serious role where at times we have to make difficult decisions and because of the nature of the people we work with we're often let down. Does this mean life in APs is doom, gloom and long faces? Not in our AP it's not. There's no point doing the job if we don't enjoy it. That, I guess, is why I tweet. To paint this balanced picture. And the beauty of Twitter…. if it's not your cup of tea just click 'unfollow'!

(link from Russell Webster via Ermintrude)

• A charming interview with a teenage mother who is being supported by a children's centres young parents group in Shropshire. Claire, who discovered she was pregnant at 16, describes the stigma of being a young parent and her hopes for the future. She says:

The best thing about being a young mum is the fact that I'm going to get to spend longer with my little boy and watch him grow up; yes I may not have lots of stories and experiences to share with him, but I still have some. People think that I am missing out on living my life but I am still so young that when my family has grown up, I will have all of the time in the world to do what I like.
... Another good thing about being a young parent is I feel like it OK for me to ask questions, I think that older mums feel like it is wrong to ask question, but at the end of the day no matter how old you are, having a baby is nothing like anything else so better to have as much information as you can.

And she offers her advice to other young parents:

... talk to your partner and parents because they may surprise you – remember you're not on your own. It is OK to be scared because most new parents are whether they are 16 or 30.
Just make sure your baby is well loved and cared for, and everything else will fall into place. No parent is always right, things go wrong, that's life but how you handle it at the time will make you a good parent. When your child grows up and looks back they won't think 'My mum and dad were well young' they will think 'My mum and dad loved me'. There is no right way of bringing up a child because everyone is different. As long as you are happy and can say you did your best, you'll probably find that your child will be happy.

(link from Kate Bentham via John Popham)