Source: Department of Health and Social Care published on this website Wednesday 15 July 2026 by Jill Powell

Millions of unpaid carers in England will be better recognised, referred to support and helped to reach their full potential, under a new cross-government action plan published 14 July 2026.

Nearly one in 10 people in England is an unpaid carer - providing an invaluable service in society looking after family members, friends or loved ones.

However, unpaid carers can experience challenges with keeping up careers or education, looking after their own health - including loneliness and isolation - and difficulties in taking breaks away from caring.

The action plan is underpinned by 3 central pillars:

• recognising our carers
• referring them to services
• helping them reach their potential

Recognising includes making sure they are identified early, particularly young carers. Unpaid carers can then be referred to the support they need whether it’s financial (such as the Carer’s Allowance), employment support (such as Carer’s Leave and flexible working) or health and social care services. Support also includes helping them to reach their potential or remain in work or education, so they can have fulfilling lives beyond their caring responsibilities.

Minister of State for Care, Stephen Kinnock, said:

“Unpaid carers make an extraordinary contribution in our communities, caring for loved ones, often putting the needs of others before their own, and we owe them a debt of gratitude for all they do. But too many still go unseen, struggle to find support or feel caring has held back their own health, education, work or retirement.

“Our action plan is addressing some of these challenges and is focused on helping carers reach their potential in education or work. To all unpaid and young carers across the country - this government values your contribution and is committed to building a system that recognises and supports you.”

The government’s Unpaid carers action plan: recognise, refer, reach contains 42 clear actions and sets out practical steps across health, social care, education, employment and social security to improve support for unpaid carers.

The main measures of the plan include:

• unpaid carers registering their role on the NHS App so health professionals can clearly see they are a carer and involving them in care planning and referring them to the right support
• the single patient record will mean all health and care providers will have the same information for a person - meaning unpaid carers will no longer need to repeat the same information about the person they care for, while helping them manage appointments and prescriptions
• unpaid carers information page on GOV.UK putting clear guidance from health, social care, employment and benefits in one place for the first time - launching this summer
• a ‘carers’ charter’ to be published, setting out the carer’s rights and entitlements
• the government will require employers with more than 250 workers to improve the support for unpaid carers from spring 2027 so they can continue in their careers while carrying out their caring responsibilities
• carers to be central to hospital discharge planning, under reforms to the Better Care Fund
• young carers will be identified quicker and better supported so they can stay in education without falling behind at school. Schools will be held accountable by data on young carers’ attendances alongside secure information sharing about young carers across services, so they are supported

• The action plan follows the steps the government has already taken to support unpaid carers including raising the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit by more than £2,750 in 2 years, the largest increase since the 1970s. Alongside this, Universal Credit and Pension Credit provide an additional £2,500 a year to 1.1 million unpaid carers through the carer element and carer addition.
• The Department for Business and Trade has also launched a consultation on employment rights and carer’s leave, with proposals to introduce paid carer’s leave and a right to return to work following a period of intensive caring.
• Baroness Casey’s independent commission on adult social careis underway, which includes exploring the needs of unpaid carers, as part of our first steps towards a national care service. The commission’s initial recommendations are due this year.

Source: Kent Police published on this website Monday 13 July 2023

A sex offender who abused a young girl in Margate has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Kevin O’Toole repeatedly sexually abused a child, beginning in spring 2022. He gained the trust of his victim before eventually forcing her to perform sexual acts on him. The abuse continued for around a year before the victim disclosed the offences to an adult, who reported it to Kent Police the same evening in April 2023.

An investigation was immediately launched, and O’Toole was arrested. During his police interview O’Toole categorically denied ever touching his victim, even going as far as answering ‘no way in hell’ when posed questions about his abuse. The 46-year-old was released under strict conditional bail whilst the investigation continued.

Police in Lincoln, where O’Toole moved following his arrest, conducted a warrant on his address in June 2025 and discovered over 180 indecent images of children on his devices. He was arrested and investigated for these offences.

O’Toole, formerly of Canwick Road, Lincoln, was later charged with 7 sexual offences, including 3 for the indecent images discovered on his devices.

He pled not guilty, however, following a three-day trial in May 2026, a jury found him unanimously guilty on all counts at Canterbury Crown Court. On Thursday 9 July he was sentenced to 10 years in prison at the same court. He will also be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the rest of his life.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Michael Lord, said:

‘I firstly want to praise the courage of the victim in this case. The bravery she has shown in disclosing what happened to her and supporting our investigation across the years has been remarkable.‘O’Toole took the opportunity to lie at every possible point in our investigation, denying his actions despite the overwhelming evidence against him. I welcome the sentence given by the court and hope it gives the victim and her family a sense of closure.’

Source: Ofsted published on this website Tuesday 14 July 2024 by Jill Powell

Ofsted has today outlined a change in its approach to tackling unregistered children’s homes, designed to stop unsafe and unlawful placements and to address issues of sufficiency in the children’s social care system.

Sufficiency – the amount of suitable accommodation available for children in care and care leavers – is shaped by a complex set of factors, rather than by the volume of provision alone. 

Local authorities have a duty to ensure there are enough suitable places for looked-after children, close to their home and able to meet their needs. However, while there are now more children’s homes than ever before, homes are getting smaller, are often not in the right places, or are unable to meet the needs of children needing residential care. Meanwhile, local authorities are spending record figures on placements. 

Research, published today by Ofsted, reveals that issues with workforce capacity, affordability of housing and lack of foster carers has led to children being placed further from home, or in placements not suited to their needs. 

This problem of sufficiency is contributing to a sharp growth in local authorities’ use of unregistered children’s homes, as Yvette Stanley, Ofsted’s National Director for Regulation and Social Care, explains in an article published today.

Unregistered homes put children at risk of being looked after by unvetted and unsuitable people. There are also indications that profiteering and criminality are increasingly a problem in the sector. 

Today’s article explains how Ofsted will crack down on unregistered children’s home providers, through criminal investigations and prosecution, and by working with partners such as the local authority or the police to take immediate action to safeguard children. At the same time, Ofsted’s upcoming consultation on children’s social care inspection reforms will include proposals aimed at eradicating the use of illegal unregistered provision by awarding ‘urgent improvement’ and ‘needs attention’ grades where local authorities are using illegal provision and have not demonstrated determined action to match local sufficiency with local need.

Ofsted has also today updated its guidance on registering children’s homes to prioritise providers offering specialist provision in the right places. With a growing number of applications, the revised approach aims to make sure that Ofsted’s finite regulatory resources are used to process applications that meet local authorities’ most urgent sufficiency needs and support the welfare of children.

The Children’s Minister, Josh MacAlister, has written to Ofsted expressing his strong support for a targeted approach to processing applications that can provide homes for children when and where they are needed most. As part of a list of criteria for priority applications, Ofsted will expect applicants to have engaged directly with the relevant local authorities to make sure that the proposed provision meets the needs of children locally and regionally. 

Letter from Children’s Minister, Josh MacAlister to Sir Martyn Oliver (PDF, 134 KB, 3 pages

Source: Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) published on this website Friday 10 July 2026 by Jill Powell

Parents and carers are being alerted to the growing threat of children’s images shared online being manipulated into AI generated sexual abuse material.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the National Crime Agency (NCA) have seen an increase in online offenders exploiting openly available images of children to create realistic sexualised content.

IWF analysts found 3,440 AI-generated videos of child sexual abuse in 2025, compared to just 13 in 2024, and the NCA have increasingly seen offenders exploiting AI technologies to target children in new ways.

AI child sexual abuse material is illegal and causes real harm, even where an image has been artificially created or manipulated it contributes to the abuse and exploitation of children and can have a devastating impact.

In response to this real and growing threat, the IWF and NCA have launched a new campaign, supporting parents and carers to make informed decisions about their children’s images.

Adverts running on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, will help parents, carers, and others to consider image consent and actions they can take to better protect their children.

Alongside the social media campaign, the organisations have also issued new guidance for parents and carers, as concerns grow about criminals’ access to children’s imagery.

The guidance aims to help people find safe ways to share images of their children without risking them falling into the hands of those who may be looking to exploit them by using AI to create nude or sexual imagery.

It will also include advice on speaking to children and young people about AI and deepfake nudes and image consent, as well as what to do if they are targeted or imagery of them is made or shared online.

The new guidance states: “You may have already discussed image consent with friends, family and even within the places your child attends like schools and clubs.

“It can be helpful to revisit these conversations and involve your child, especially as they get older and start exploring new spaces online. Talk about how they feel about their photos being taken or shared, and help them to understand it’s okay to say no.”

When reviewing image consent for sharing of photography, parents and carers are asked to consider:

• Am I still comfortable with how my child’s images might be used?
• Have my preferences changed?
• Do I want to limit or withdraw consent?
• It’s ok to ask people not to post photos or videos of your child online

It also suggests creating a ‘close friends’ group for parents still wanting to share images online, or limiting visibility so only selected people can see them, as well as advice on speaking to children and young people about AI, ‘deepfake’ nudes and image consent and what to do if they are targeted or imagery of them is made or shared online.

This follows similar advice issued to education professionals by the IWF and the NCA last year, providing information on how to protect student images from AI manipulation.

The new advice comes after the IWF warned about criminal gangs who had targeted a school in the UK. The gang had taken imagery of the school’s pupils from a school website and, using AI, created more than 100 sexual images of the children.

They then tried to blackmail the school into paying to prevent the images being put online.

The IWF, which is the UK-based organisation working globally to remove and block child sexual abuse imagery from the internet, acted quickly to help make sure the images would be stopped from being uploaded - but fears remain that more schools could be targeted. 

Kerry Smith, Chief Executive of the IWF, said: 

“The threat is disturbing. If someone’s imagery is online, they could be easy pickings for criminals and anyone, especially children, could find themselves being targeted. 

“We don’t want to say don’t share your children’s images with the people you love and trust, but we want everyone to be aware of the potential risks and make an informed decision with the full facts at their disposal. These are not hypothetical threats, they are real.  

“The impact of this imagery can be devastating. The harms are very real. And the potential for lasting damage is something which I think every parent would do anything they can to prevent. We want to give them back that power, and start a public conversation about whether we should be sharing imagery online as a default.”  

Tim Wright from the National Crime Agency said: 

"Artificial intelligence tools are becoming more powerful, more widely available and easier to use, and we are seeing offenders exploit them to target children in new ways. Images shared online, even everyday family photos, can be stolen and manipulated to create sexualised content without a child or parent's knowledge.

“While we and policing colleagues tackle offenders, prevention remains vital. We encourage parents and carers to take a few simple steps today: review the privacy settings on social media accounts; think carefully about who can access images of their children; and talk openly with family, friends, schools and clubs about image sharing and consent. Most importantly, if something does go wrong, stay calm, reassure your child that they are not to blame, and report concerns to the police or CEOP so action can be taken as quickly as possible”

Images and videos of child sexual abuse are illegal in the UK whether they have been made with AI or not. The IWF warns AI-generated child sexual abuse is becoming more and more widespread, and is increasingly lifelike as technology improves.

• In 2025, the IWF identified 8,029 AI-generated images and videos of realistic child sexual abuse, a 14% increase in criminal AI content on the previous year.
• An additional 82 items were classed as prohibited, actioned under UK law even if the material is not photorealistic, such as cartoons, illustrations and animations.
• Of the 3,443 AI-generated child sexual abuse videos identified, which is a more than 260-fold increase on the 13 videos found in 2024, 65% were classified as Category A. This is the most severe legal category under UK law which encompasses offences such as rape, sexual torture and bestiality.
• By comparison, 43% of non-AI criminal videos seen by the IWF in 2025 were Category A – demonstrating that AI is being used to create more violent content.

The IWF says tech companies must evaluate and safeguard AI models before releasing them to make it harder for criminals to abuse AI image generators and create child sexual abuse imagery.