Source: HM Treasury published on this web site Monday 14 July 2025 by Jill Powell

Struggling and vulnerable families and children are to be given a better start in life after a new government fund was announced today (Monday 14 July), which will provide them with the support and funding needed to access a better education, a safe home, and the caring supportive environment they need to flourish.

The Better Futures Fund will support up to 200,000 children and their families over the next ten years by bringing together government, local communities, charities, social enterprises, investors, and philanthropists to work together to give children a brighter future.

It could fund providing support in schools to improve attendance, behaviour and overall achievement of pupils, intervening to free children from a life of crime, and offering employment support to secure their futures.

The fund, which is the largest of its kind in the world, will be launched by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves at a visit to a school today in Wigan, hosted by the charity AllChild. It could fund providing support in schools to improve attendance and behaviour, intervening to free children from a life of crime, and offering employment support to secure their futures.

By investing in early support to tackle challenges like school absence, addiction and re-offending, the fund will help give children the stability and opportunity they need to thrive – delivering on a key part of the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change to give every child the best start in life.

It comes ahead of the government hosting the first Civil Society Summit this week, where the government will set out a comprehensive plan on how this government will partner with experts from outside the traditional corridors of power to create solutions that work for real people – all through the principles of fairness, collaboration and trust.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said: 

“I got into politics to help children facing the toughest challenges. This fund will give hundreds of thousands of children, young people and their families a better chance. For too long, these children have been overlooked. Our Plan for Change will break down barriers to opportunity and give them the best start in life.”

Social Outcomes Partnerships have already been used with success across the UK, with over 180 commissioners using the model across the country. The Greater Manchester Better Outcomes Partnership (GMBOP), for example, works with young adults in the Greater Manchester area who are at risk of homelessness.

AllChild’s projects have already halved persistent school absences, and 80% of children have improved emotional wellbeing. Other programmes like the Skill Mill offer paid work experience and qualifications, reducing reconviction rates from 63% typically to 8% and three quarters of those in the programme progress to further employment, education or training.

This fund is a big step in the government’s work with the impact economy - unlocking extra resources from philanthropy, social investors and businesses to tackle urgent social challenges. Today’s announcement comes as the government’s Child Poverty Strategy is to be published in autumn to ensure it delivers fully funded measures that tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty across the UK.

The launch is backed today by groups including Save the Children UK, The King’s Trust and Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government.

Today’s announcement is informed by consultation with the Social Impact Investment Advisory Group and other representatives from civil society, purpose-driven business, and local government. Over the coming months Government will build on this and develop a strategic approach to working with the impact economy, who have long played an important role across the UK economy in unlocking innovation, driving inclusive growth and strengthening community resilience.

Further details on the fund will be set out in due course. It will be delivered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Source: Ministries of Housing, Communities and Local Government published on this website Thursday 10 July 2025 by Jill Powell

More young people leaving care and domestic abuse survivors can now have greater access to social housing, thanks to new changes removing a local connection requirement coming into effect today.    

Last month the Deputy Prime Minister confirmed the government is rewriting the rules for vulnerable groups who have faced barriers to social housing when they do not have a connection to the local area, meaning they can no longer be unfairly penalised. The move has been largely welcomed by charities across the sector including Become and Centrepoint.

Many domestic abuse survivors and care leavers under the age of 25 face unique challenges, such as fleeing an unsafe home to seek safety or adjusting to life outside of the care system, so may be forced to move from area to area without having a local connection. 

Government guidance for councils across England, nearly 90% of which currently use local connection tests, sets out their obligations to prioritise vulnerable people applying for social housing. This has now been updated to confirm young care leavers and domestic abuse survivors must be exempt from any local connection tests.

It comes as the government recently published its five-point plan to deliver a decade of renewal for social and affordable housing and pave the way for the biggest boost in a generation. This includes the new £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme to build around 300,000 new homes over the next decade, with at least 60% for social rent.

Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner said:

“I’m immensely proud this government is delivering real change for some of our most vulnerable in society, making sure more young people and families can have a safe and secure roof over their head.  

“It’s only right we remove local connection tests for these groups and from today they will no longer face such barriers – it’s a promise we made and a promise we’ve kept.  

“This builds on our Plan for Change to deliver the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation, turning the tide on the crisis we’ve inherited and building hundreds of thousands of new homes to bring down housing waiting lists for good.”

Today’s changes follow the rules overhauled last year to remove local connection tests for all former UK Regular Armed Forces Veterans, regardless of when they last served, as pledged by the Prime Minister.  

The government remains fully committed to supporting more vulnerable groups and veterans into social housing but also recognises the challenges faced by councils dealing with unprecedented pressures on housing supply as well as depleted housing stocks.  

That’s why the government has now set out ambitions to ramp up housing delivery for this Parliament and beyond, equipping councils and providers with greater tools to invest in existing and new social homes. This includes:

• Bringing forward long-overdue reforms to Right to Buy, including a 35-year exemption for newly built social homes, to protect and reverse the decline in much-needed council housing.  
• Extending the flexibilities on spending Right to Buy receipts introduced last year, as well as allowing councils to retain 100% of Right to Buy receipts and from next year combine receipts with grant funding for affordable housing, which will further accelerate the delivery of new homes to replace those sold.  
• Introducing a new long-term 10-year settlement for social housing rents to provide the sector with the certainty they need to reinvest in new housing stock.

New funding for a £12 million Council Housebuilding Skills & Capacity Programme has also been announced, which will upskill and expand council workforces to get more spades in the ground for a new era of council housebuilding.

Last month the government published a written ministerial statement confirming new changes for young care leavers and domestic abuse survivors. The regulations were laid on 19 June and come into force today.  

While the changes remove a specific barrier for these vulnerable groups, the allocation of social housing is still at the discretion of the local housing authority.  

On 24 September, the Prime Minister set out his ambition to improve access to social housing for former UK Armed Forces Veterans, young care leavers and domestic abuse survivors.  

The government recently set out its long-term plan – Delivering a decade of renewal for social and affordable housing – which includes a commitment to support more vulnerable groups and veterans having access to social housing.

Source: Ofcom published on this website Friday 11 July 2025 by Jill Powell

Deepfakes are AI-generated videos, images and audio content that are deliberately created to look real. They pose a significant threat to online safety, and we have seen them being used for financial scams, to depict people in non-consensual sexual imagery and to spread disinformation about politicians.

In July last year, Ofcom published their first Deepfake Defences paper, and today’s follow-up dives deeper into the merits of four ‘attribution measures’: watermarking, provenance metadata, AI labels, and context annotations. These four measures are designed to provide information about how AI-generated content has been created, and – in some cases – can indicate whether the content is accurate or misleading.

This comes as their new research reveals that 85% of adults support online platforms attaching AI labels to content, although only one in three (34%) have ever seen one.  

Drawing on our new user research, interviews with experts, a literature review, and three technical evaluations of open-source watermarking tools, this latest discussion paper assesses the merits and limitations of these measures to identify deepfakes.

Our analysis reveals eight key takeaways which should guide industry, government and researchers:  

1. Evidence shows that attribution measures can help users to engage with content more critically, when deployed with care and proper testing.
2. Users should not be left to identify deepfakes on their own, and platforms should avoid placing the full burden on individuals to detect misleading content.
3. Striking the right balance between simplicity and detail is crucial when communicating information about AI to users.
4. Attribution measures need to accommodate content that is neither wholly real nor entirely synthetic, communicating how AI has been used to create content and not just whether it has been used.
5. Attribution measures can be susceptible to removal and manipulation. Our technical tests show that watermarks can often be stripped from content following basic edits.
6. Greater standardisation across individual attribution measures could boost the efficacy and take up of these measures.
7. The pace of change means it would be unwise to make sweeping claims about attribution measures.
8. Attribution measures should be used in combination with other interventions, from AI classifiers and reporting mechanisms, to tackle the greatest range of deepfakes.

The attribution measures explored in this paper are not new rules or expectations for tech firms, instead the findings can be used to guide those deploying these tools to help identify deepfake content. This research will also inform Ofcom policy development and supervision of regulated services under the Online Safety Act.

Source: Crown Prosecution Service published on this website Wednesday 9 July 2025 by Jill Powell

A man who was the first to be charged with encouraging serious self-harm online under Section 184 of the Online Safety Act 2023 has been sentenced to a nine years and four month prison term - partially to be served in hospital. 

Tyler Webb, 22, used the Telegram communications app to repeatedly tell a vulnerable 22-year-old woman to cut herself, and then to kill herself by hanging during a video call so he could watch, telling her she had nothing to live for and giving her methods to end her life.

He admitted encouraging self-harm and encouraging suicide at Leicester Crown Court on May 9.

After hearing today from the prosecution and defence and considering Sentencing Guidelines, including Webb's guilty plea, the court handed down an eight year and two months prison term for encouraging suicide, with an indefinite restraining order to protect his victim.

Separately he was given a one year two month prison term for encouraging self-harm, which will run on top of his other sentence, meaning a total of nine years and four month prison term.

Alex Johnson, a specialist crown prosecutor in the Special Crime Division of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Tyler Webb contacted a vulnerable woman online and encouraged her to commit serious self-harm and to end her life by hanging. 

“He knew she was vulnerable and would act on his requests but went ahead with his persistent requests knowing she may well die. 

“Fortunately, his repeated and insistent suggestions did not result in a death.”

On one occasion the woman followed his instructions while on a video call to him, passing out.  

On another occasion she cut herself after being encouraged to do so by him, and sent him a photograph of her injury. 

On 2 July 2024, during a 44-minute call he made persistent efforts to get her to kill herself after her previous attempt. 

When it became apparent she would not do so, he said he would block further contact with her. 

She reported what had happened to police and he was arrested at his Loughborough home by Leicestershire Police. 

Due to his own mental health difficulties the sentence was made as a hybrid hospital order, which means he will be sent to hospital for treatment, but after treatment ends, be moved back to a prison.

DC Lauren Hampton, of Leicestershire Police, who investigated the crimes and brought the evidence to the CPS to prosecute, said: “This case is not only truly shocking but also deeply concerning.

“Webb preyed upon a vulnerable woman at a time when she was reaching out to people in online forum for help and support.

“He quickly gained her trust and then he began with his barrage of vile requests – all the time knowing that what he was telling her to do could result in her ending her own life. Thankfully, this did not happen, and the victim was able to report what had happened.

“The courage and strength the victim has shown is truly incredible. I want to thank her for coming forward and reporting to police the despicable behaviour of Webb. Her actions have undoubtedly safeguarded other vulnerable people from being targeted.”

Building the case; proving someone went online to encourage another to kill or self-harm themselves

This was the first time a person had been charged with encouragement of serious self-harm under the Online Safety Act 2023. Encouraging suicide has been a criminal offence under statute since 1961 and before that it was an offence under common law. The charge, as with all encouraging suicide cases, required the Director of Public Prosecutions, Stephen Parkinson’s personal consent to proceed.

To prove either of the offences the CPS needed to show that Webb committed an act that encouraged serious self-harm, or encouraged suicide, and was intended to do so; or that he believed his acts were capable of encouraging suicide or self-harm.

We were able to do this by proving:

• Webb came across the woman in an online forum where people discussed mental health difficulties, showing he knew she was vulnerable.
   
• The first time they spoke she cut herself at his request, which was evidence he knew she would act on his requests
   
• He watched her on video attempting to end her life once, proving she would do it, but tried once more. He could not claim he was fantasising or in role play.
   
• An audio recording of a call made by the woman showed his persistent attempts and the way he tried to push her.
   
• Digital images and drawings depicting hangings, decapitations and sexual violence towards women showed his mindset.
  
  As a result Webb admitted his guilt.