Source: Office for Product Safety and Standards published on this website Thursday 23 October 2025 by Jill Powell

A new variant of dangerous baby self-feeding products has appeared where the pillow part takes the form of an animal head shape.

Baby self-feeding products are designed to enable babies to bottle feed with little or no assistance from a caregiver. This creates a risk of serious harm or death from choking on the feed or aspiration pneumonia.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards has identified that all baby self-feeding products are dangerous due to their design and intended use and can never be made safe, regardless of any changes to their appearance. It issued a Product Safety Alert concerning them in December 2022. The public was urged to stop using them immediately and dispose of them safely. Businesses and local authority trading standards services were also asked to take specific actions to remove them from the market.

• Read the Product Safety Alert
• Read the news story announcing the Product Safety Alert
• Read guidance on safe bottle feeding – NHS website

Source: Charity Commission published on this website Tuesday 21 October 2025 by Jill Powell

St Giles Trust offers advice, advocacy and support to those facing severe social disadvantage and multiple barriers in their lives.   

In January 2025, the charity reported a serious incident to the Commission explaining that an employee was allowed to work with children in schools for almost 2 years while being on the Disclosure and Barring Service’s (‘DBS’) barred list.  

The charity explained the initial DBS check completed in 2021 showed they were not on the barred list but when re-applying in 2023, the list had been updated which then included the individual. As a result of an operational failure in the charity, no action was taken to stop the individual working with children until December 2024. At this point, a HR officer identified the change when reviewing the DBS check and reported it to the charity’s senior management. 

The Commission opened a regulatory compliance case to gather more information and determine what, if any, regulatory action may be required. The Commission met with the trustees and obtained further information to understand what immediate steps they were taking in response to the new information and to check the charity’s safeguarding policies and procedures. 

The trustees proactively updated the regulator on steps being taken in response to the incident. This included conducting a full internal investigation. 

The Commission found that whilst the incident primarily resulted from an operational failure in the charity, the trustees breached their duties and responsibilities by allowing a barred individual to work with children for almost two years, placing beneficiaries at risk of harm.

This amounts to mismanagement in the administration of the charity. The regulator is critical of the trustees for allowing this to happen. 

Since the Commission began engaging with the charity, the trustees have promptly made a number of changes to the charity’s DBS and Risk Assessment policy; procured a new DBS check provider with improved automation and tracking; mandated that all staff required to have DBS checks have signed up to the DBS update service, and introduced measures to ensure that all DBS results are checked at least twice. The trustees also updated the charity’s Safeguarding Children and Young People policy.  

The regulator verified the actions taken by the trustees and provided them with formal advice and guidance to further reinforce the requirement to strengthen the charity’s safeguarding governance. Following further assurances from the charity’s trustees the regulator has now closed its case. 

The trustees avoided further regulatory action due to the way they responded to the matter. If there are further safeguarding failings in the future, this will be a matter of significant concern for the regulator.  

This case serves as an important reminder to all trustees to ensure that they are fully aware of their responsibilities in relation to DBS checks and the importance of maintaining sufficient oversight. The Commission’s safeguarding guidance sets out its expectations of charities. 

Chris Sladen, Head of Regulatory Compliance Casework, said:

“This was a serious error which should never have been allowed to happen. However, this case demonstrates that if problems do arise, the way trustees respond makes all the difference. 

“This is a reminder that effective safeguarding is never complete. All trustees should be routinely checking their policies and procedures are fit for purpose and are being applied properly to protect people who come into contact with the charity from harm.”

Source: Ministry of Justice published on this website Wednesday 22 October 2025 by Jill Powell

Thousands more children will be protected from vile sex offenders under amendments to the Victims and Courts Bill tabled in Parliament on Monday 20 October.

The new measures will see parental responsibility automatically restricted in cases of children born of rape, and when a parent is convicted of serious sex offences against any child. This means a parent can no longer take active steps in their child’s life, including making decisions over their schooling, medical care or trips abroad.

The move delivers on the long-term campaign of Natalie Fleet MP, Baroness Harman and Jess Asato MP and will provide greater protection for vulnerable children.  

Deputy Prime Minister, David Lammy, said: 

“These reforms mark a crucial step forward in restoring faith in our justice system. Automatically restricting parental responsibility in cases of rape where it has led to the birth of a child and serious child sexual offences sends a clear message: the rights and safety of children come first.  This Government is committed to standing up for victims and ensuring that those who commit the most vile crimes against children are never in a position to cause further harm.”

Natalie Fleet MP said:

“This amendment will finally offer protection for not only children born of rape, but also the mothers, who have until now always lived in fear of their rapists interfering in the lives of their children through their parental responsibility rights. This change will end that fear.

“It puts the rights of survivors above the rights of rapists and signals a landmark shift in how this country’s legal system values safety, dignity, and truth. It will deliver powerful, lasting change for thousands of women and children and I am delighted that this Government has listened to our concerns and acted so swiftly.”

To ensure swift protection for families, restriction will happen immediately following sentencing, removing the necessity to apply through the family court. 

Restricting parental responsibility for children born of rape protects two victims – the mother and the child – from the influence of abusive and undeserving fathers, whereas removing the right for those convicted of serious sex offences against any child builds on the existing measure to restrict responsibility for those who have abused their own child.

This move follows the expansion of the government’s innovative Pathfinder pilot, which aims to improve the court experience and outcomes for children and parents involved in private family law proceedings - including those who have experience of domestic abuse. 

Source: Department of Health and Social Care published on this website Monday 20 October 2025 by Jill Powell

Government to launch a consultation on Liberty Protection Safeguards to improve safeguarding for vulnerable people.

Vulnerable people lacking the mental capacity to make decisions about their care are expected to benefit from major changes to safeguarding and protections, following a consultation announced by the government today.

The proposed Liberty Protection Safeguards aim to deliver improved protection and an easier and improved system to allow carers, psychologists, social workers and families to provide care to vulnerable people in circumstances that amount to a deprivation of liberty.

The current Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards system is bureaucratic and complex, leading to poor understanding and application of the law by professionals, unacceptable distress for families and a backlog of 123,790 individuals, putting pressure on the social care system.

The implementation of these new safeguards is expected to streamline processes and reduce the backlog of applications – focusing on those most vulnerable.

A consultation on the Liberty Protection Safeguards will be launched in the first half of next year, seeking the views of those affected such as families, carers and practitioners including social workers, nurses, psychologists and occupational therapists. It will be jointly run by the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Justice.

This delivers on calls from organisations including the Care Quality Commission, Mencap and Mind for the implementation of new Liberty Protection Safeguards to replace the outdated Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

For example, under the current system:

• A lady in the advanced stages of dementia, who for over three years has had no concept of place, person or time and cannot walk, talk or chew, is required to have an assessment every year.
• The assessment involves a GP, social worker, care home staff, admin staff and her advocate, and results in a long, report to determine whether she should be deprived of her liberty and if the care home is the best place for her.
• Part of this assessment includes a GP visit who asks her a string of questions, despite this vulnerable individual having no indication of understanding or even awareness of anyone being there and cannot give any response.
• This repetitive process is distressing for her family to witness every year and to be told they are depriving their loved one of liberty. Many other people have conditions like this which are unchanging.

Liberty Protection Safeguards will allow for existing assessments to be reused, or for assessments to last for longer than one year. This will reduce the need for intrusive processes, which can be harmful or distressing for individuals and their families, and will allow for better focus on people who most need support and protection.

A 2014 Supreme Court ruling, known as Cheshire West, established an ‘acid test’ which broadened the definition of what it means to be ‘deprived of liberty’ and led to an increase of 300,000 referrals between 2013-14 and 2023-24 – in addition to a backlog of 125,000 cases.

Each case represents an extremely vulnerable person who needs comprehensive care and support and does not have the mental capacity to make decisions about their care alone.

In August, Northern Ireland put forward a challenge to the Supreme Court about the Cheshire West ‘acid test’ and what is considered a ‘deprivation of liberty’. This is a challenge to the current Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, with any ruling having a UK wide impact.

The UK government has been granted permission by the Supreme Court to intervene in this case – as it recognises the issue within the current system and sought to be part of this vital conversation and put forward a UK wide solution.

The responses from this consultation will be used to inform a final Mental Capacity Act (2005) Code of Practice which will be laid in Parliament.

The revised Code of Practice will incorporate changes in case law, legislation, organisational structures, terminology, and good practice since 2007 addressing critical challenges in the existing Deprivations of Liberty Safeguards framework.  

The last time the Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice and Liberty Protection Safeguards were consulted on was in 2022 which did not lead to any changes.