Sunak and Johnson pushed repeatedly against autumn lockdown, inquiry told

Posted on November 7, 2023 by Admin

Covid investigation also told taskforce coordinating pandemic policy had no warning of ‘eat out to help out’

UK politics live – latest updates

Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson pushed repeatedly against lockdown measures during the second wave of Covid in autumn 2020, with the government’s chief scientist accusing the then chancellor of using “spurious” arguments against new rules, the inquiry into the pandemic has heard.

In a day of evidence that placed increasing focus on Sunak’s role, the inquiry also heard that his flagship “eat out to help out” hospitality scheme was imposed without consulting the government’s Covid taskforce, leaving officials “blindsided” by the Treasury.

One in 10 biggest English councils risk bankruptcy over child protection bill

Posted on November 1, 2023 by Admin

County Councils Network says local bodies facing insolvency after increase in children being taken into care and ‘out of control’ costs

“Out of control” increases in child protection spending since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic have put one in 10 of England’s biggest councils at risk of effective bankruptcy in the next few months, a survey has revealed.

Many county councils and unitary authorities are “running out of road” to avoid insolvency as they grapple with high inflation, increases in children being taken into care, and massive bills for children’s homes, the County Councils Network (CCN) said.

Biggest private children’s homes in England made £300m profit last year

Posted on October 28, 2023 by Admin

Fee income for 20 largest operators – many private equity-owned – soars as councils struggle to meet costs

The biggest private providers of children’s homes in England made profits of more than £300m last year, as concern mounts over the conditions some children are being placed in and the spiralling costs for councils.

Fee income for the 20 largest operators of independent children’s homes totalled £1.63bn last year, a 6.5% increase on the previous year. And 19% of that – £310m – was recorded as profit, according to an independent analysis. Half of the top 20 providers have some private equity or sovereign wealth fund ownership.

Met police failing children at risk and victim blaming, says damning report

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Admin

Inspectorate demands emergency changes as Scotland Yard accepts its child protection services are in chaos

The Metropolitan police are failing in their efforts to protect children from criminal and sexual exploitation while bungling efforts to find missing young people, a damning official report has found.

The findings have led Scotland Yard to accept its child protection services are in chaos, and a senior officer admitted that “too often we are letting them down”. The policing inspectorate, which authored the report, said it was also concerned with “the frequency with which officers and staff use victim-blaming language”.

Sent home: how Kenyan’s dream of life as a UK care worker turned sour

Posted on September 3, 2023 by Admin

Anthony Mbare found his tied visa put him at mercy of his bosses. He is one of thousands who have come to plug shortages in adult social care

It is a bitter November night and Anthony Mbare is shivering in a car in rural Wiltshire, south-west England, waiting to see his next client.

It’s 3C and he has been here for almost two hours but he cannot turn on the heater because the car battery might die. A petrol-station coffee to warm him up is £3 he cannot afford. He blows on his hands, wriggles his toes and huddles under a blanket.

Children referred to social care twice as likely to fail GCSE maths and English

Posted on August 21, 2023 by Admin

Research found 53% of teenagers in England who had been referred to services did not achieve a pass in both subjects

Children in England who are referred to social services at any point in their childhood are twice as likely to fail GCSE maths and English, according to new research published ahead of results day on Thursday.

Analysts looked at 1.6m pupils’ exam results over a three-year period and found that 53% of teenagers who had been referred to social care – as detailed in the Children in Need census – did not achieve a grade 4 pass in both English and maths GCSE.

Exploitation of care workers in England is ‘appalling’, says government adviser

Posted on July 30, 2023 by Admin

Brian Bell says ministers have let social care become reliant on low-paid and vulnerable foreign workers

Ministers have allowed England’s creaking social care system to become too heavily reliant on low-paid foreign workers who are vulnerable to exploitation, the government’s migration adviser has warned.

In a strongly worded intervention, Prof Brian Bell, who has just been reappointed by the home secretary, Suella Braverman, as chair of the migration advisory committee (MAC), called the government’s tacit acceptance of exploitation in the sector “appalling”.

Home Office delays have devastating effect on child asylum seekers – report

Posted on June 26, 2023 by Admin

Children are being left in limbo so long that they are at risk of harm, social workers warn

Lone child asylum seekers are facing fivefold increases in delays in having their claims processed by the Home Office, with devastating consequences, according to a new report.

Social workers, legal professionals and the children themselves have warned that the impact of being left in limbo about their future for so long includes the risk of suicide, self-harm and persistent insomnia.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie.

‘No one listened’: mother of Cheshire boy kidnapped by father says she warned authorities

Posted on May 24, 2023 by Admin

Ibrahim Faraj, seven, was abducted and taken to Saudi Arabia in November

A woman whose seven-year-old son was kidnapped by his father and taken to Saudi Arabia has said she repeatedly warned authorities it would happen but “no one listened”.

Ranem Elkhalidi has not seen or spoken to Ibrahim Faraj since November, when he was abducted by his father, Hamzah Faraj, in breach of a court order.