4 h. ago Now Scots grooming gangs are smuggling phones into children's care homes to prey on vulnerable youngsters

A senior Scottish care worker has told how grooming gangsare now smuggling phones into children's care homes to make contact with vulnerable youngsters.

Society

24 h. ago Afghan gang members who trafficked young boys on small boats to rape and blackmail them will be extradited from UK

AN AFGHAN trafficking gang member who smuggled young boys into the UK before raping and blackmailing them has been extradited. Zeeshan Banghis, also known as Bangash, and Saifur Rahman Ahmedzai would help organise the deprived operations. The crime ring exploited migrants from Afghanistan and smuggled them through Iran, Turkey and the Balkans into Europe, including France and Belgium. They would...

Events

29 h. ago Welsh village erupts in fury over plans to house 70 asylum seekers in a former care home as 500 locals queue up to protest

Police officers kept watch and patrolled Rhosllanerchrugog, near Wrexham, today as around 500 locals queued for the packed public meeting.

Events

32 h. ago Afghan member of trafficking gang that smuggled young boys into the UK on small boats and raped and blackmailed them with sex attack footage will be kicked out of the country

Zeeshan Banghis and Saifur Rahman Ahmedzai were arrested by National Crime Agency extradition officers in December 2024 after a Belgian judge jailed them in their absence.

Events

37 h. ago I never thought I’d see an asylum hotel on fire, or worry about my staff’s safety. The past five years changed that | Enver Solomon

As head of an immigration charity, I’ve seen firsthand how hostility and toxicity have reached unprecedented levelsEnver Solomon is the outgoing chief executive of the Refugee CouncilIt is difficult to think of another area of government policy that has weathered as much legislative hyperactivity as asylum and migration. I have been chief executive of the Refugee Council since 2020, and I am struck by the fact that there have been four bills that have become law since I started. A fifth one in as many years is expected soon as Home Office officials beaver away under the orders of the home secretary to quickly turn the proposed asylum reforms, published in November, into legislation.As I prepare to leave the organisation this month, I have been reflecting on how the asylum and migration landscape has changed. It’s clear the rhetoric and intent behind all these new laws has been the same: to deter so-called asylum shopping, to disrupt the people-smuggling gangs, to ramp up removals of...

Events

47 h. ago Hundreds of vulnerable children placed in illegal care homes amid ‘broken system’

Ofsted said it had begun nearly 900 investigations into potential unregistered homes

Society

47 h. ago Hundreds of children placed in illegal care homes because of chilling failures

A damning report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee warned that the use of unregistered care homes for children is widespread despite the Government vowing to stamp this out by 2027

Events

52 h. ago Evil former nun who abused children at Scottish care homes jailed

The sick pattern of abusive behaviour also included locking one child in a cupboard and another in an unlit cellar without access to water

Events

65 h. ago AD FEATURE: Family claims back £40,000 in wrongly paid care home fees

The Pearsons were not made aware of NHS Continuing Healthcare funding and took on full responsibility for covering the care fees

Society

3 d. ago Police probe huge fire which destroyed historic building worth hundreds of thousands

Six fire crews were sent to Gwastad Hall in Cefn-y-bedd, Flintshire, after the alert was raised on Monday morning at the former care home

Events

3 d. ago 'Yet another gimmick that will have little impact': Home Office 'Trump

The Home Office insisted the 'hard-hitting' account was needed to challenge people smugglers - but critics say Keir Starmer should focus on smashing gangs, rather than TikTok.

Politics

3 d. ago Prestwick care home given clean bill of health after unannounced spot check

The care home, on Monkton Road, was graded ‘good’ across one quality indicator and ‘very good’ across another.

Society

3 d. ago One in four UK teenagers in care have attempted to end their lives, study says

Research also shows teenagers in care are four times more likely to try to end their lives than peers with no care historyOne in four teenagers in care have attempted to end their own life, and are four times more likely to do so than their peers with no care experience, according to a landmark study.The research analysed data from the millennium cohort study, which follows the lives of 19,000 people born in the UK between 2000 and 2002, and considered how out of home care, including foster, residential and kinship care, affected the social and mental health outcomes of the participants. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Keir Starmer tells MPs he is open to social media ban for young people

PM says he is alarmed at reports about children’s screen time and has shifted position on Australian-style policyUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer has told MPs he is open to the idea of an Australian-style ban on social media for young people after becoming concerned about the amount of time children and teenagers are spending on their phones.The prime minister told Labour MPs on Monday evening he had become alarmed at reports about five-year-olds spending hours in front of screens each day, as well as increasingly worried about the damage social media is doing to under-16s. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Fire rips through building near care home as locals 'wake up to bangs'

One resident said she woke up to "bangs and explosions" due to the fire that has been burning overnight near a care home in Kirkintilloch.

Events

4 d. ago Migrant who entered UK saying he was a health worker was found working in a curry house: Probe as thousands abuse 'NHS visas'

Ijaj Abid Redwan Hridoy arrived here on a health care visa but Home Office immigration enforcement officers found him working at the Junoon Indian restaurant in the village of Helsby in Cheshire.

Events

5 d. ago Parents warned that screen time damages toddlers’ ability to speak

The first-ever state guidance will be published in April

Events

5 d. ago Parents to be given state guidance on screen time for children amid development fears

The first-ever state guidance will be published in April

Society

7 d. ago Major boost to 'lifeline' support as top minister makes adult social care vow

Health minister Stephen Kinnock said the Government is ramping up funding for at-home support while a major commission into the adult social care system is carried out

Politics

1 week ago Depraved children's care home worker jailed after grooming and raping vulnerable girls

Alexander “Sandy” Boyd was convicted grooming, assault and rape, after a trial into historic sex abuse in Oban.

Society