1. Law Commission recommends changes to disabled children’s social care law 
Disabled children across England will benefit from clearer legal rights and more consistent support under comprehensive reforms published by the Law Commission.
The recommendations are the culmination of a two-year review and follow extensive consultation on proposals to modernise the fragmented legal framework governing social care for disabled children. Currently, families and local authorities navigate a complex web of overlapping laws from the 1970s and 1980s that create confusion and inconsistent provision across the country. The new proposals would ensure the law in this area is fairer, simpler and up to date.

The Law Commission recommends keeping disabled children within existing Children Act protections while introducing a discrete set of rights and entitlements for disabled children into that Act. This new, unified framework should be accompanied by dedicated and comprehensive guidance setting out the rights and responsibilities of disabled children, families and local authorities. This guidance should include material which helps local authorities to ensure that there is a more appropriate balance struck between identifying and meeting the needs of disabled children and their families in a non-stigmatising way, and safeguarding them from harm and abuse.

Other key reforms include giving disabled children express rights to request social care assessments and ensuring they receive independent advocacy when needed, to make sure that their voices are heard. The proposals would also strengthen transition planning to adulthood and improve cooperation between health, education and social care services.

The recommendations aim to balance meeting disability-related needs whilst maintaining essential safeguarding protections. Final report available here.

2. 14 NHS Trusts the focus of national maternity investigation
The 14 hospital trusts to be looked at as part of a rapid, independent, national investigation into maternity and neonatal services were named on Monday 15th September.
Baroness Amos’ investigation will put families at the heart of the work and affected families were asked to provide input to the draft terms of reference of the investigation.
The Terms of Reference have been developed to focus on understanding the experiences of affected women and families, identifying lessons learned and driving the improvements needed to ensure high quality and safe maternity and neonatal care across England.
The investigation will urgently look at a range of services across the entire maternity system, following independent reviews across multiple trusts that have revealed a pattern of similar failings: women’s voices ignored, safety concerns overlooked, and poor leadership creating toxic cultures.
Following its conclusion, Baroness Amos will deliver one clear set of national recommendation to achieve consistently high-quality, safe maternity and neonatal care, with interim recommendations delivered in December 2025.

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency
MHRA confirms taking paracetamol during pregnancy remains safe and there is no evidence it causes autism in children
Dr Alison Cave, Chief Safety Officer at the MHRA, said:
Patient safety is our top priority. There is no evidence that taking paracetamol during pregnancy causes autism in children.

Paracetamol remains the recommended pain relief option for pregnant women when used as directed. Pregnant women should continue to follow existing NHS guidance and speak to their healthcare professional if they have questions about any medication during pregnancy. Untreated pain and fever can pose risks to the unborn baby, so it is important to manage these symptoms with the recommended treatment.

MHRA and Department for Education
MHRA and Department for Education embed medicine safety into school curriculum to empower young people
The importance of medicine safety and how to report side effects of medicines via the Yellow Card scheme is now part of the statutory guidance for schools in England.
On World Patient Safety Day (17 September), the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is proud to announce a major milestone in its mission to protect public health: for the first time, the importance of medicine safety and how to report side effects of medicines via the Yellow Card scheme is now part of the RSHE statutory guidance for schools in England.

Working in close partnership with the Department for Education (DfE), the MHRA has successfully embedded this life-saving knowledge into the statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) guidance – reaching children and young people in classrooms across the country.

The curriculum changes are reflected in the statutory guidance, which now links directly to the Yellow Card scheme and a dedicated child-friendly guide tested with over 3,500 children and young people.

Charity Commission
Fundraising Regulator
A new Code of Fundraising Practice has been published
From 1 November 2025, fundraising regulation in the UK is evolving to reflect modern fundraising practices.
The new Code of Fundraising Practice, and accompanying support guides are now available, offering a clearer, more adaptable approach to fundraising regulation.

Ofsted, CQC, HMICFRS, HMIP
Joint targeted area inspections to focus on child sexual abuse in the family environment
Ofsted, Care Quality Commission (CQC), HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and HM Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) have published guidance for the second round of thematic inspections focusing on child sexual abuse in the family environment, as part of their programme of joint targeted area inspections (JTAIs).

Starting in the autumn of 2025, inspections will consider local areas’ multi-agency responses to child sexual abuse in the family environment.

Inspectors will look at how the police, children’s social care, probation services and relevant health services in a local area work together to:

• respond to children at risk of, or who are victims of, child sexual abuse in the family environment, at the point of identification
• assess, plan and make decisions in response to notifications and referrals of children at risk of, or who are victims of, child sexual abuse in the family environment
• protect, support, and care for children at risk of, or who are victims of, child sexual abuse in the family environment
• prevent children from becoming victims of child sexual abuse in the family environment.

1. Online safety laws to strengthen to protect people of all ages from devastating self-harm content
Vulnerable people across the UK will be shielded from the most dangerous content online, as new laws are set to be introduced to prevent devastating self-harm material from reaching people of all ages.

The government has announced urgent action to toughen the Online Safety Act 2023 by putting stricter legal requirements on tech companies to hunt down and remove material that encourages or assists serious self-harm, before it can destroy lives and tear families apart.

While platforms already have to take specific steps to protect children from this dangerous self-harm content, the government recognises that adults battling mental health challenges are equally at risk from exposure to material that could trigger a mental health crisis or worse.

The new regulations mean that content encouraging or assisting serious self-harm will be treated as a priority offence for all users.

2. Revenge Porn Helpline and National Crime Agency release new guidance to help tackle sextortion
The Revenge Porn Helpline has collaborated with the National Crime Agency (NCA) to publish guidance for professionals working in higher education settings on financially motivated sexual extortion (FMSE), a type of online blackmail often referred to as ‘sextortion’.
The guidance includes a poster, for display across higher education settings, helping students to know how to respond and report FMSE, should they be targeted.

What is financially motivated sexual extortion?

Financially motivated sexual extortion is a form of online blackmail where an offender threatens to share nude or semi-nude images and/or videos of a person unless they pay them money or meet another financial demand (for example purchasing a pre-paid gift card). Offenders are often operating outside the UK, and can target anyone regardless of age, gender, or background.

1. Jessica Brady's legacy inspires new life-saving GP safety rule
Jess’s Rule is named in memory of Jessica Brady, who died of cancer in December 2020 at the age of 27, and will help avoid tragic, preventable deaths as GPs are supported to catch potentially deadly illnesses sooner.
In the five months leading up to her death, Jessica had more than twenty appointments with her GP practice but eventually had to seek private healthcare. She was later diagnosed with stage 4 adenocarcinoma. With such an advanced disease there was no available treatment. She was admitted into hospital where she died three weeks later.

The new initiative will ask GPs to think again if, after three appointments, they have been unable to offer a substantiated diagnosis, or the patient’s symptoms have escalated.

While many GP practices already use similar approaches in complex cases, Jess’s Rule will make this standard practice across the country, aiming to reduce health inequalities and ensuring everyone – no matter their age or background – receives the same high standard of care.

2. Neo-Nazi music family sentenced for stirring up racial hatred
A father and his two adult children have been imprisoned after being found guilty of inciting racial hatred through neo-Nazi music.
Robert Talland, 59, his daughter Rosie Talland, 34, and son Stephen Talland, 36, conspired to inspire racial hatred through the production and distribution of sound recordings.

A Neo-Nazi gig in 2019 at Leeds’ Corpus Christi Catholic Club featured Nazi flags which were paraded on stage and the entire crowd, including children, performed the Nazi salute.

Stephen and Rosie Talland were members of band and played at the event. They played racist songs, with references to a race war involving fighting, killing and riots.

Robert Talland ran ‘Rampage Productions’ a record label which produced and distributed music which encouraged terrorism and incited racial hatred.

In this case prosecutors concluded that the hateful lyrics were racially charged, that they encouraged terrorism, and that they were also directly likely to lead to racial hatred being stirred up in others.

3. Lengthy prison sentences for rapists who lured girl into car in Dover
Lengthy prison sentences have been given to three sexual predators who repeatedly raped a 12-year-old girl after she was lured into a car in Dover.
Kevin Horvath and Ivan Turtak approached their victim in a supermarket car park on Sunday 11 August 2024 before driving her to various locations and subjecting her to horrific abuse for several days along with a third offender, Ernest Gunar.

All were convicted of multiple child sex offences including rape following a trial earlier this year and were sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday 12 September 2025.

4. Former Co-Op Bank chairman who stole from vulnerable friend ordered to pay back £184,000 to victims
Paul Flowers, former Co-Operative Bank Chairman, Labour councillor in Rochdale and Bradford, and Methodist minister stole from his friend Margaret Jarvis whilst she battled Alzheimer’s. On her death he continued to steal from her estate, abusing his position as executor of her will.

Over several years Paul Flowers, 75, wrote himself cheques, withdrew cash and stole the pension of his victim.

Students reminded to be vigilant of scams as 25/26 academic year begins
In September, SLC will pay approximately £2.2billion in maintenance payments to almost one million students as they start and return to university. However, at this time of year, students can be targeted by scammers, with text message (SMS) fraud currently the most popular form of scam.

Alan Balanowski, Risk Director at SLC, said: “SLC’s mission is to support students to invest in their future and being at university is a very exciting time - but it’s vital that they also remain vigilant and aware of scams as they start or return to university.

“The methods used by fraudsters are constantly evolving, with more sophisticated and different technologies being used to target students. This is especially true around the start of the academic year, when the first payments are being made. Scammers are well aware that students will be starting to receive their maintenance loan from us and over the last two years we have seen a rise in attempts to defraud students, including people impersonating SLC or students via phone calls (vishing), contact by text message (smishing) or via emails (phishing).

“We have a range of prevention methods that we use to identify and stop scammers and last year, we stopped £45.5m being stolen from students. We are committed to protecting students, however, it’s vital that they can spot signs of a scam and act to protect themselves and their money from falling into the wrong hands. Our message to students is simple – think before you click.”

Check out our guide to identifying a scam here 

There is also a range of additional advice and information on recognising and avoiding scams from Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, as well as Stop! Think Fraud, a campaign from the Home Office.

1. Met Special Constable convicted of multiple sexual offences
A serving volunteer Met Special Constable has been found guilty of committing several serious offences, including rape of a child under thirteen.
Gwyn Samuels, formerly known as James Bubb, was convicted on Thursday, 28 August of five offences they were charged with.

The charges relate to incidents which occurred between January 2018 and April 2024 in London and Buckinghamshire.

The offences were committed by James Bubb, who has since changed name to Gwyn Samuels and now self-identifies as a transgender woman.

2. Care home worker jailed for theft from elderly resident
A care home worker who stole sentimental jewellery from an elderly resident has been jailed.
Police were called after staff at Bethune Court in Boscobel Road, Hastings, reported the theft on 21 March, 2024.
The victim – an 82-year-old woman – discovered jewellery including her late husband’s gold wedding ring had been taken from the bedside table in her private room.
As enquiries were ongoing, the victim’s family posted an appeal for information on social media. This was seen by a local pawnbroker, who believed they had recently accepted the same ring from regular customer.
She was identified as Rita Cooney, who worked as a housekeeper at the care home.

3. Cleric charged with conducting marriage ceremony for two children in Northampton
A Northampton religious leader on Wednesday, September 3 was charged under forced marriage legislation with illegally allowing two children to marry each other.

It is alleged Osmani conducted a Nikah marriage ceremony in November 2023, involving two 16-year-old children at the Central Mosque Northampton, where he is the serving Imam, the Mosque’s most senior Muslim cleric.

4. PC admits attempting to blackmail man over indecent images of children arrest
A police officer has admitted trying to blackmail a man by demanding money to prevent information about his arrest for allegedly possessing indecent images of children being publicised.
PC Marie Thompson, 29, of South Yorkshire Police, was the officer in charge of an investigation into a man suspected of possessing indecent images of children, and she arrested and interviewed the man on 6 October 2022.

The suspect was then released under investigation, pending further examination of his digital devices.

On 17 January 2023, the man received an email from a ProtonMail address demanding £3,500 be paid into a bank account, with an account number and sort code provided. The email purported to be from Paedophile Hunters and stated that the payment would “ensure that information remains between you and us”.

Later the same day, the man’s partner received a text message requesting that a reply was needed by the end of the day. No money was transferred by the man.

The man reported the correspondence to South Yorkshire Police via the force’s 101 service, and PC Thompson told the man she would investigate the matter but falsely endorsed the crime report to say that he did not want to pursue a complaint.

The investigation was closed, and PC Thompson lied again to the man six weeks later saying that the sender of the email and text message could not be traced.

PC Thompson was suspended from South Yorkshire Police in March 2023 for other matters and another officer took over the indecent images of children investigation and was informed about the report of blackmail.

It was discovered that the text had been sent from PC Thompson’s personal mobile phone. Examination of her laptop also showed email fragments which matched the heading of the email demanding money, but the contents of the message and recipient address could not be recovered.

5. Nursery worker jailed for child abuse following Met Police investigation
The parents of multiple children have thanked the Met Police for “giving them a voice when they didn’t have one” on the day a woman is jailed for abusing them at nursery.
Roksana Helena Lecka, 22 (13.10.2002) of Avro Place, Hounslow appeared at Kingston Crown Court on Friday, 26 September where she was sentenced to eight years in prison. She was previously found guilty of 21 counts of child cruelty after a Met Police investigation uncovered months of abuse she had inflicted on infants, while working in nurseries.

Detective Inspector Sian Hutchings of Met Police’s Public Protection Command said:

“Today’s sentencing concludes a complex and emotional investigation. The victims in this case are just babies, with the youngest being just 10 months at the time of the offences. Something which our officers have found shocking throughout this investigation is Roksana’s lack of accountability and her inability to explain her unjustifiable actions. As a result of the hard work from our dedicated investigation team and our partners, this woman will no longer be able to harm children.”

Met officers were called to a nursery in Twickenham in June 2024, following concerns from members of staff about Lecka’s behaviour.

As enquiries unfolded, it was revealed that Lecka had been abusing children while working at two separate nurseries between October 2023 and June 2024. CCTV showed Lecka repeatedly pinching and hitting children, shoving them to the floor, pulling their hair, kicking them in the face and vaping towards their cots.

6. Paedophile ex-schoolteacher jailed for multiple child sexual abuse offences
A former maths teacher has been sentenced for the sexual abuse of numerous girls and multiple child sexual abuses of young girls.
Syed Shahreear Ahmed, 36, has been found guilty of 21 criminal charges including, grooming, sexual activity with a child, taking and making indecent images of a child, rape, and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, extended for five years.

Ahmed was a maths teacher at a secondary school in Essex until he resigned after his arrest in May 2023.

An investigation by the Metropolitan Police and subsequent prosecution review and analysis of his two smartphones showed that he had been in contact with numerous girls and young women on social media, making arrangements to meet them and engage in sexual activity.

To deal with some of the more complex and challenging child sexual abuse cases like this, the Crown Prosecution Service has established a dedicated Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit to share specialist understanding, build strong cases and increase the amount of successful prosecutions.

Prosecutors urge strangulation survivors to come forward as charges reach record high
Michael Cosgrove, 45, had known his partner, Kerry Allan, for a year when he tried to kill her by strangulation.
Ms Allan has spoken publicly about her experience for the first time since he was sentenced.
Cosgrove’s sentence comes as data released by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) shows a record number of charges of strangulation reaching courts since the standalone legislation was introduced three years ago.
In the last recorded three-month period, nearly 2,400 charges were prosecuted by the CPS.