NHS medical negligence liabilities hit £60bn amid surge in maternity payouts
The NHS’s total liabilities for medical negligence have hit £60bn, driven by a jump in childbirth injury cases that cost more than £11m each on average to settle.The total sum of money the health service in England may have to pay out to settle lawsuits for mistakes by staff has quadrupled from £14.4bn in 2006-07, amid more claims and rising legal costs.The cost of settling clinical negligence legal actions has soared over the same period from £1.1bn to £3.
6bn, with much of that jump related to babies suffering brain damage while being born,The figures are contained in a report by the National Audit Office (NAO), which urged NHS chiefs to do more to prevent the harm,The £60bn liability that the NAO has identified is an increase on the £58,2bn at which the Commons public accounts committee (PAC) put the figure in May,Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, the PAC chair, said the £60bn bill was “astounding”.
“This is the second largest liability across government [after public sector pensions] and forecasts predict that these costs could continue to grow substantially,” he said.During 2024-25 GP services accounted for the largest number of cases the NHS settled – 2,914.However, while cases involving obstetrics where a child was left with cerebral palsy or other brain damage were fewer in number – 1,016 – they were very costly to settle.They cost £1.6bn to settle, more than four times the next most expensive type of injuries – “other” (£337m) – and paediatrics (£325m).
“Despite progress in containing the number of clinical negligence claims in some specialities, the increasing cost of the small number of very high value claims is driving higher costs for taxpayers”, said Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO.Maternity claims cost £11.2m each on average to settle, the NAO revealed.It also disclosed that:the bill for negligence is expected to reach £4.1bn in 2029-30the number of cases settled has more than doubled from 5,625 in 2006-07 to 13,329 in 2024-25the total number of settlements has fallen in 11 specialties but risen in six others“There has been an unacceptable rise in the cost of clinical negligence claims – billions that should have been spent on frontline services, ” a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said.
“From overhauling our broken safety landscape to grasping the serious problems in maternity care, this government is grabbing hold of this problem and taking the decisive action patients and taxpayers deserve.“Our 10-year health plan makes clear that patient safety is the bedrock of a healthy NHS and we are working to ensure we reduce the incidents that lead to claims.”Meanwhile, the total cost of repairing hospitals in England has soared to almost £16bn, NHS figures showed.The disclosure prompted NHS leaders to warn that patients are being put at risk from “decrepit” buildings that in some cases are “falling to bits, literally”.The bill for repairing and properly maintaining the NHS’s stock of hospitals has jumped from £13.
8bn last year to £15.9bn – a 16% rise – according to the NHS’s annual estates return information collection dataset.Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of hospitals body NHS Providers, said: “Critical parts of the NHS are falling to bits, literally, after years of underinvestment nationally.The safety of patients and staff is at risk.“We can’t keep wasting money propping up ageing buildings not fit for purpose.
”Siva Anandaciva, director of policy at the King’s Fund thinktank, said the £15.9bn figure is “more than the entire capital budget for this year and £2.2bn higher than last year”.“Decrepit NHS buildings have a real and detrimental impact on patient care, with regular examples of flooded corridors, reduced theatre capacity and roofs at risk of falling in,” he added.
Nearly 2,000 Foreign Office jobs ‘at risk’, says PCS union
Almost 2,000 civil servants at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office face the risk of redundancy, with the biggest union for government workers vowing to fight the cuts.The PCS union, which has about 200,000 members, said it had been told that 1,885 jobs at the second highest level, known as delegated grades, were “at risk”, in addition to redundancy notices that have already been issued to some senior civil servants.The union linked the cuts to the government’s decision to reduce the foreign aid budget and accused the department of failing to follow civil service protocol by putting a number on job cuts before consulting.The Foreign Office (FCDO) said it was reducing its headcount to make the department more agile, after its permanent secretary, Olly Robbins, said earlier in the year that the department planned to reduce the size of its workforce by up to 25% as part of wider civil service changes.The Cabinet Office has previously announced plans to lose tens of thousands of roles in the civil service, but most attempted cuts so far have been through not replacing staff and voluntary, rather than compulsory, redundancy programmes
Three neo-Nazis jailed for plotting terror attacks on UK mosques and synagogues
Three neo-Nazi extremists who amassed an arsenal of more than 200 weapons and were planning terrorist attacks on mosques and synagogues in England have been jailed for between eight and 11 years.Christopher Ringrose, 35, Marco Pitzettu, 26, and Brogan Stewart, 25, communicated online and formed a group with “like-minded extremists” who wanted to “go to war for their chosen cause”, a jury heard.A nine-week trial at Sheffield crown court heard how the trio idolised Hitler and the Nazis, used racist slurs, glorified mass murderers and encouraged violence against anyone deemed an enemy.The three men, who were not believed to have met in person until they appeared together in the dock, were arrested when security services believed an attack was imminent. It came after undercover officers infiltrated their online group
Ministers plan high-level visits to China despite espionage trial outcry
Ministers are pushing ahead with their reset of relations with China, including several planned high-level visits before the end of the year, despite the furore triggered by the collapse of a high-profile espionage trial.Plans have been drawn up for Jonathan Powell, the national security adviser, to travel to Beijing in November for talks before an anticipated trip by Keir Starmer next year.Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, and Patrick Vallance, the science minister, are also expected to travel to China on government business before the end of the year.The government could yet decide to pull or postpone Powell’s November trip after he was dragged into the controversy surrounding the abandonment of charges against two men accused of spying for Beijing.A government spokesperson said: “We have long been clear that we are bringing a consistent, long-term and strategic approach to managing our relations with China, rooted in UK interests
No 10 says Badenoch’s claim PM should have intervened to stop China spy trial collapsing ‘absurd’ – as it happened
Matt Western, the Labour chair of the joint committee on national security strategy, said that his commitee met this morning and has decided to hold a formal inquiry into this.He said the chairs of the home affairs committee, the foreign affairs committee and the justice committee were among the committee’s members.He asked for an assurance that the inquiry would have access to ministers and officials.Ward said the government welcomed parliamentary scrutiny. He said he was sure witnesses would be made available to the committee
China spying case: dream job turns into nightmare for DPP Stephen Parkinson
Stephen Parkinson dreamed of being the most senior prosecutor in England and Wales before he even qualified as a barrister, but now finds himself in a situation more akin to a nightmare.As the director of public prosecutions (DPP), Parkinson is facing questions over why he felt he could not proceed with the trial of two men accused of spying for China. He said the case was dropped because prosecutors had tried and failed to obtain a witness statement from the government stating that China posed a current “threat to the national security of the UK”.But that explanation has been called into question by some senior lawyers and, perhaps more ominously for Parkinson’s job prospects, by politicians too. A government minister, Stephen Kinnock, declined to say whether Parkinson was the right person for the job of DPP
Farage urged to explain anti-abortion links to meeting with Trump officials
Nigel Farage has been urged to explain why a US anti-abortion advocacy group helped arrange a meeting in London with Trump administration officials and diplomats.The meeting, first reported by the New York Times, took place in March between Farage and a delegation from Trump’s state department, which it said was overseen by the US embassy and brokered by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) group. The meeting was said to have discussed abortion rights, free speech and online safety laws.ADF, which supports free speech and religious freedom, has worked in Britain to help challenge the prosecutions of Christians who were arrested for praying silently outside abortion clinics, breaching “buffer zones”. The group, which is non-politically partisan and says it is a human rights charity, said it was not present at the meeting and had never met with Reform UK politicians to discuss abortion law
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