Licences granted to nearly 200 UK care providers despite labour law violations

Nearly 200 care providers have been given government licences to bring foreign nurses to the UK despite having previously violated labour laws, according to a study that highlights widespread employment problems in the social care sector.The report by the Work Rights Centre shows 177 companies in England have been given licences to sponsor carers, even while publicly available information shows them to have violated workers’ protections in the past.The study gives further evidence of major gaps in the government’s oversight of its foreign carer regime, under which hundreds of thousands of nurses and carers have travelled to Britain for work, only for many to experience exploitation and poor working conditions.It will now prove an early test for Labour’s new employment rights enforcer, which the government has promised as part of its workers’ rights package.Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of the Work Rights Centre, said: “Our research finds that breaches of employment rights are endemic in the care sector

Only one in 10 sexual assault survivors in England and Wales would report crime again, survey shows

Rape victims in England and Wales have echoed the message of Gisèle Pelicot in France that “shame belongs to perpetrators, not them”, in the largest ever survey of rape and sexual assault survivors, according to the government’s key adviser on the crime.Three-quarters of respondents to the survey of rape and sexual assault survivors said their mental health was damaged “as a direct result of what police did, or failed to do, in their case” and only one in 10 said they would report again, according to researchers.But a radical overhaul of the way the criminal justice system deals with rape since 2021 is showing the first “green shoots” of improving victims’ experience of the criminal justice system, with respondents after July last year 8% less likely to report damage to their mental health because of the police.Only two in five respondents agreed that policing is doing a good job and while one in five said they have been pressured by officers to withdraw, with black and minority ethnic survivors having worse experiences than white respondents.Operation Soteria, which focuses on perpetrators rather than victim behaviour and was fully rolled out in 2023, came after a rape review in June 2021 exposed the reasons behind a collapse in rape prosecutions – which in 2016/17 stood at 5,190 and fell 60% in four years to 2,102 in 2019/20, even as reports increased

UK disability charities say NICs rise will cause ‘life-changing’ cuts

Charities have warned of “life-changing consequences” for a million vulnerable children and adults as a result of cuts to state-funded disability services driven by tax changes and wage rises announced in the budget.The Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), which represents 100 charities in England, said Rachel Reeves’s decision to raise employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) had been “ill thought through” and would put many local charity services at risk.The warning came amid Guardian reports that the government is to offer a financial lifeline to protect hospice charities, who had said the rise in NICs would cost them £30m a year and lead to end-of-life services being cut or even closing.VODG, which represents household names like Mencap and Sense as well as scores of smaller disability charities, said the NICs and national minimum wage increases would leave many members having to cut back on staff and services.The quality of services for disabled people who are being supported to live independent lives would be reduced, it said

NHS England hopes to save thousands of lives with pill that helps smokers quit

Hundreds of thousands of smokers will be given a pill that increases people’s chances of quitting, in a move that NHS bosses believe will save thousands of lives.About 85,000 people a year in England will be offered the chance to use varenicline, a once-a-day tablet that experts say is as effective as vapes at helping people to kick the habit.Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, hailed the pill as a potential “gamechanger” in the fight to tackle smoking and the huge harm to health it causes.The drug helps people to quit by reducing their cravings for nicotine and ensuring that it cannot affect the brain in its usual way. It has also been found to reduce the side-effects smokers can experience when they stop using tobacco, such as trouble sleeping and irritability

Assisted dying bill’s ‘strict’ safeguards to include long jail terms for coercion

A historic bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales will set out hardline safeguards, including lengthy prison sentences for coercion and powers for judges to cross-examine patients.The Labour MP Kim Leadbeater said she believed she had put forward “the best possible legislation” but warned wavering MPs that parliament may not get a chance to vote again on the issue for another decade.She pledged it would contain the “strictest protections and safeguards of any legislation anywhere in the world” amid growing concerns from some MPs over the potential for mission creep and coercion.On the day of the bill’s publication, Keir Starmer said he would be studying the safeguards in the bill closely but said he wanted the issue to be a genuine free vote.Speaking to reporters in Baku, where he is attending the Cop29 climate summit, the prime minister, who has previously been a vocal champion of the change, declined to make a specific commitment on the way he would vote

The assisted dying bill: what it means for patients in England and Wales

The 40-page terminally ill adults (end of life) bill will be published on Tuesday. The bill’s main elements, released in advance, set out what it contains.Adults with a terminal illness who are expected to die within six months will be eligible for an assisted death. The person must have the mental capacity to make a choice about the end of their life, and must express a “clear, settled and informed” wish, free from coercion or pressure. The bill excludes disability and mental illness as eligibility criteria