UK’s ‘unsung army’ of full-time unpaid carers needs more support, report says
A growing “unsung army” of 1 million people with full-time caring responsibilities needs better support, according to a report that found one in three unpaid carers from poorer backgrounds were unable to work because of their duties.The trend is the result of an ageing society and rising ill-health and disability concentrated in the poorest half of the country’s working-age families, the Resolution Foundation’s research found.Almost one in three working-age adults in lower-income families had a disability, compared with fewer than one in five in better-off families, the thinktank said.It added that in homes of modest means, 1 million people had caring responsibilities of 35 hours or more a week – the equivalent of a full-time job – making it challenging to secure paid work.Mike Brewer, the deputy chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, said: “Britain is getting older and sicker, while a greater share of its population has a disability.
While these trends affect the whole of society, they are starkest in the poorest half of working-age families across the country.“While we talk a lot about the effects of ageing and ill-health, the implications on demand for unpaid care is largely absent from political debate.“That’s despite Britain having an ‘unsung army’ of 1 million people who do at least 35 hours of unpaid care work every week – equivalent to a full-time job.“It is time to provide better support for these carers and their families, just as we have done with working parents in recent decades.”In response, a government spokesperson said: “We understand the huge difference carers make, as well as the struggles they may face.
“That’s why we’ve delivered the biggest ever cash increase in the earnings threshold for carer’s allowance, whilst unpaid carers can also receive support, including short breaks and respite services, through the Better Care Fund.“Alongside this, we are reviewing the implementation of carer’s leave and considering the benefits of introducing paid carer’s leave.”In 2024, a Guardian investigation revealed that tens of thousands of unpaid carers, most of them already in poverty, had received large bills for overpayments that ran into thousands of pounds as a result of failures by the Department for Work and Pensions.Those affected unwittingly fell foul of earnings rules despite a promise in 2019 by the DWP’s permanent secretary, Peter Schofield, that new technology would eradicate the problem of overpayments.In the five years after the verify earnings and pensions tool, known as VEP, was presented as a solution to the problems of carer’s allowance, more than 262,000 overpayments totalling in excess of £325m were clawed back from carers, and 600 carers were prosecuted and received criminal records, according to the National Audit Office.
As a result of the investigation, Labour set up an independent review of the allowance and raised the earnings limit for those claiming it,
Government on track to lower minimum age for train drivers to 18 in Great Britain
Labour will introduce legislation to lower the minimum age for train drivers to 18 in the House of Commons this week, as figures show fewer than 3% of drivers on Great Britain’s railways are under 30.The government is pressing ahead with its proposals for teenage recruits, lowering the minimum age from 20, in a move that ministers hope will stave off a potential shortage of thousands of drivers.A looming mass exodus through retirement threatens to intensify driver shortages and worsen train reliability, with a lack of crew already a big cause of late-notice cancellations.The current average age of Great Britain’s 24,000 train drivers is 48, and about 25% of them will reach retirement age before 2030.According to a National Skills Academy for Rail report, that could mean a shortfall of 2,500 drivers in four years’ time
Mandelson revelations show need for tougher UK constraints to resist rule of the rich | Heather Stewart
Peter Mandelson’s personal disgrace is deep and unique, and may yet bring down a prime minister – but by laying bare the dark allure of the “filthy rich”, it also underlines the need for tougher constraints on money in politics.It is hard to know what system or process could have shielded sensitive government decisions from the risk that a senior cabinet minister might nonchalantly pass on the details to a friend, the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.But Epstein’s efforts to influence government policy – working to water down Alistair Darling’s bonus tax at a time when the banks had crashed the British economy, for example – underline the powerful forces with which politicians are faced.One bulwark against this is the expectation that most will display a probity and strength of character Mandelson clearly lacked.The Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, spoke for many on Thursday when he unfavourably compared the disgraced Mandelson with the late Alistair Darling
‘It felt hypocritical’: child internet safety campaign accused of censoring teenagers’ speeches
An internet safety campaign backed by US tech companies has been accused of censoring two teenagers they invited to speak out about the biggest issues facing children online.Childnet, a UK charity part-funded by companies including Snap, Roblox and Meta, edited out warnings from Lewis Swire and Saamya Ghai that social media addiction was an “imminent threat to our future” and obsessive scrolling was making people “sick”, according to a record of edits seen by the Guardian.Swire, then 17, from Edinburgh, and Ghai, then 14, from Buckinghamshire, had been asked to speak at an event to mark Safer Internet Day in 2024 in London in front of representatives from government, charities and tech companies.The tech-backed charity also edited out references to children feeling unable to stop using TikTok and Snap, social media exacerbating a “devastating epidemic” of isolation, and a passage questioning why people would want to spend years of their lives “scrolling TikTok and binge-watching Netflix”, the edits show.The 2026 iteration of the Childnet-run event takes place on Tuesday with more than 2,800 schools and colleges listed as supporters
‘I fell into it’: ex-criminal hackers urge Manchester pupils to use web skills for good
Cybercriminals, the shadowy online figures often depicted in Hollywood movies as hooded villains capable of wiping millions of pounds off the value of businesses at a keystroke, are not usually known for their candour.But in a sixth-form college in Manchester this week, two former hackers gave the young people gathered an honest appraisal of what living a life of internet crime really looks like.The teenagers in the room are listening intently, but the day-to-day internecine disputes they hear about is not the stuff of screenplays.“It’s just people getting into these online dramas and they’re swatting and doxing each other and getting people to throw bricks through their windows,” one of the hackers says.If the language sounds unfamiliar, it should – “swatting” and “doxing” involve people outing each other online by posting their genuine identities – but their message is clear: though cybercrime may seem alluring, the reality is anything but
Super Bowl 2026: Seattle Seahawks v New England Patriots – live
Seahawks 3-0 Patriots, 6:51 1st quarterGood first down by NE, who nearly force Darnold into a mistake – a batted ball is almost intercepted as the QB ends the play on his back.Big drive coming upCredit the Seattle defense for making life uncomfortable for Maye and forcing the punt. Now if they can come back and get in the endzone, we will start to wonder about the Pats hanging on and keeping this game competitive.That’s another way of saying this drive represents an early gut-check form New England.Seahawks 3-0 Patriots, 7:11 1st quarterOn 1st & 10 Maye is under pressure! Hall has a Super Bowl sack, pushing the pats back 10 yards and back into their own territory
Winter Olympics 2026: USA take gold in figure skating team event – as it happened
You can read a full report from Sunday’s action here:Final team standings69 USA 68 Japan 60 Italy 56 Georgia 54 CanadaMen’s standings200.03 Malinin (USA) 194.86 Sato (JPN) 179.62 Rizzo (ITA) 171.93 Gogolev (CAN) 154
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