Government bans charities from publicising their work, leaked letter reveals - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
A letter leaked to CYP Now has revealed the Department for Education (DfE) is ordering charities delivering government-funded programmes to stop publicising their work with immediate effect in an apparent bid to save on spending.
Number of registered childminders continues to fall - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
The number of registered childminders has fallen again, by more than 500 in the past quarter, according to the latest Ofsted figures.
Hampshire children's services to lose 185 staff as budget slashed by almost £25m - Wed, 28 Jul 2010
Hampshire County Council is to slash almost £25m from its children's services budget, as part of a restructure and efficiency savings drive that will see 185 staff lose their jobs.
Youth Community Action programme to be axed - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
The government has announced it is to scrap the Youth Community Action programme, which aims to encourage all 14- to 19-year-olds to take part in volunteering.
CYP Now campaign to champion youth services - Tue, 27 Jul 2010
CYP Now is today launching a campaign to highlight the importance of providing services for young people.
Careers advice has little effect on young people after the age of 16 - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
The provision of careers education and information, advice and guidance (IAG) has little effect on the decisions that young people make at the age of 16, a Department for Education research report has found.
Metropolitan Police launches website to inform young people about crime and safety - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
The Metropolitan Police has launched a website for young people to inform them about crime and safety issues ranging from bullying and drugs to gang crime.
Schools struggle to find money for extended services - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
Schools are struggling to fund a full programme of extended services despite pressure from parents and pupils to run more activities, according to a study.
Doubt over removal of DH ‘shackles’ - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
Tensions are emerging in government plans to remove the “shackles” of central control by liberating foundation trusts and strengthening regulators.
Goodwill could net GPs £8bn - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
GP practices could earn at least £8bn from selling the “goodwill” tied up in their practices, figures from the DH suggest.
GPs could be forced to take on ex-PCT managers - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
Many primary care trust managers are likely to be able to transfer into similar roles within GP commissioning consortia, regardless of whether or not GPs want them, employment experts have told HSJ.
Mental health 'labels' criticised - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
Large numbers of “normal” people are at risk of being labelled as psychiatric patients, British experts have warned.
Legal concern over private patient income cap - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
Government plans to lift the cap on foundation trust private patient income leaves it vulnerable to action under EU state aid law, private hospital operators have told HSJ.
Missing detail renders NHS quality accounts ‘meaningless’ - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
Many hospitals have evaded a major government initiative to make them more open and accountable about the quality of their services.
Scottish government urged to protect social care from cuts - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
The Scottish government has been urged to ensure social care does not suffer from its pledge to protect NHS spending from cuts over the next four years.
DH shunts £50m from social care to fund cancer drugs - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
The government has shunted £50m earmarked by Labour to finance personal care at home to increase access to cancer drugs.
Free personal care here to stay, says Scottish government - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
The Scottish government is insisting it will preserve its free personal care policy for older people - rejecting the recommendations of an independent review of public expenditure in the country.
Free personal care hard to justify, finds Scottish review - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
Free personal care for older people in Scotland is "hard to justify", according to an independent review of public expenditure in the country.
Cafcass efficiency questioned by National Audit Office - Wed, 28 Jul 2010
Cafcass chief executive Anthony Douglas is facing renewed criticisms after the National Audit Office found its response to rising care applications would have been better if progress had been made in tackling organisational problems.
Independent commission to look into early intervention - Wed, 28 Jul 2010
The government has confirmed an independent commission will be set up into early intervention to be chaired by Graham Allen MP.
Quarter of children's NQSWs swamped with work - survey - Wed, 28 Jul 2010
A quarter of newly qualified children's social workers in England feel their caseloads are too high, a survey by Ofsted has revealed.
Cafcass risks clash with Nagalro by recruiting 50 NQSWs - Tue, 27 Jul 2010
Cafcass is recruiting 50 newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) under plans to reform its traditional career structures.
Benefits shaken up to cut costs and increase job incentives - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
Work and pensions secretary, under pressure to cut budget, sets out three reform options
Income support and housing benefit could be combined with the tax credit system as part of a range of proposals released tomorrow by Iain Duncan Smith to cut the welfare budget and increase incentives to work.
The work and pensions secretary is publishing a paper to set out reform options as he battles to convince a sceptical Treasury he can find savings by reducing fraud and error in the unwieldy tax credit system invented by Gordon Brown. Duncan Smith wants to keep savings inside his department to fund ways of making work pay.
Duncan Smith is under intense pressure in the autumn spending review to cut the rising welfare budget, but he has been resisting straight cuts in the level of benefits, apart from housing benefit.
The fact that he is not setting out a single costed proposal suggests he has not yet been able to convince the Treasury his plans are workable, or will achieve the savings claimed.
Duncan Smith is expected to advance three options:
• Combining elements of current income-related benefits, such as income support and housing benefit, with the tax credit system.
• Bringing all out-of-work and in-work support together in a single system for working age adults, so integrating tax credits.
• Supplementing monthly household earnings through credit payments reflecting current circumstances, including children, housing and disability.
The final option would reduce the massive levels of fraud and error in tax credits caused by families receiving credits that no longer reflect their incomes.
Officials from Duncan Smith's department pointed to a report this week from the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) highlighting a new PAYE system that would make it easier to adjust tax credits and benefit payments on time as income changes, rather than annually as is the case with work credits, or when a recipient notifies the revenue of a change in income.
The tax credit system would no longer be based on annual updates of an individual's income.
Department for Work and Pensions officials say the change would put tax credit payments into line with the standards the public expect from banks, and will allow flexibility so that people can be assured of the right support even if they take on temporary work.
In 2008-9 there was £2bn fraud and error estimated in the tax credit system. Income-related fraud and error amounts to around £400m in the benefits system such as housing benefit. Ministers argue that if they can cut these numbers, they should be entitled to keep the savings. The savings could be used to increase work incentives by reducing punitive tax and benefit withdrawal rates.
The Treasury, however, is dubious that the savings are likely to occur.
Duncan Smith will argue: "After years of piecemeal reform the current welfare system is complex and unfair. For many people, taking a job leaves them no better off than a life on benefits, and this has trapped significant parts of our society in inter generational worklessness and entrenched poverty.
"The complexity of the system also creates risk and uncertainty for the people in society who most need stability. We want to simplify the system to make it clear that work will always pay. Our reforms should also ensure the system is easier for individuals to understand and will reduce the high costs of fraud and error."
The Conservatives in opposition argued there would be greater scope to make welfare reforms if the department became the only authority administering benefits and tax credits.
This would require taking responsibility for tax credits away from HMRC and having local authorities pass the burden of administering housing and council tax benefit back to central government.
But the Centre for Social Justice chaired by Duncan Smith as a backbencher, advanced a more dramatic simplification in which all existing benefits and working tax credits were replaced with just two.
He proposed a "universal work credit", replacing income support, job seekers allowance and employment support allowance, and a "universal life credit", replacing housing benefit, a council tax benefit, and disability living allowance.
Duncan Smith claimed the proposals would initially cost £3.6bn annually, but the Department for Work and Pensions, then under Labour administration, put the figure closer to £7bn.
The shadow work and pensions secretary, Yvette Cooper, dismissed the proposals, saying" "This is a sham to cover the fact that the budget actually cuts work incentives, cuts jobs and cuts help for people to return to work.
"Labour's minimum wage and tax credits made many families thousands of pounds better off in work. The budget is heading in the opposite direction, cutting tax credits and increasing withdrawal rates.
"Major reform either costs billions or means taking money from those who need it most. Iain Duncan Smith needs to be honest and tell us which it is."
Ban on heart ops must stay, says review - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
John Radcliffe Hospital is told it may not resume heart surgery by independent review into deaths of four babies
Surgery at the smallest children's heart unit in England should remain "suspended until or unless the service can safely be expanded", an independent review into the deaths of four babies at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford has concluded.
The unit has been shut since February after the four children died within weeks of one another having been operated on by a junior consultant, Caner Salih.
He had been appointed to raise patient numbers at the unit, which was under threat of closure, but was asked to stop operating after blowing the whistle on practices within the unit.
The review panel, commissioned by the South Central Strategic Health Authority (SHA), has been examining all aspects of patient care at the unit. The department carried out around 100 operations a year and was one of the smallest units in the country.
It has examined the systems in place and asked whether "appropriate, proportionate, and timely actions were taken by the right members of staff whenever concerns were raised".
The report says there were two distinct groups of patients that had "more deaths than would have been expected from national mortality rates for the procedures carried out", and these could not be explained by chance.
First were the 15 cases operated on by the new surgeon, for which the rate of mortality was 4.8 times higher than that expected from national rates.
Second were complex procedures undertaken under the supervision of the senior cosultant, Professor Stephen Westaby, between 2000 and 2008, for which the rate of mortality was 5.3 times that expected from national rates.
Westaby and Salih were the only two paediatric cardiac surgeons at the time of the suspension. Salih left shortly afterwards, having been appointed as a consultant at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust in London.
Bill Kirkup, director of clinical standards at the SHA, said it would be unsafe to allow any further children's heart surgery to take place unless the unit is expanded. Although the report states there were "no errors of judgment that directly led to any of the deaths", there were problems in the "induction" and "mentoring" of Salih.
Westaby also comes in for criticism for his "somewhat idiosyncratic approach". He had booked a three-week holiday at the time his new junior surgeon arrived – and expected him not to undertake any surgery.
"It should have been clear from the outset that the two surgeons had significant differences of outlook and personality, and neither surgeon expressed any enthusiasm for joint working," said the report.
The panel makes it clear that although "the results between 2000 and 2008 were almost within the bounds of expected variation", this was because of the staff's determination to make an "unsatisfactory situation work despite its inherent flaws".
It adds: "That they did so is a reflection of their efforts, but we do not believe that it is right to rely on this to deliver a safe service in future: the risks for patients and parents are too high".
Asbos to be scrapped, says Theresa May - Wed, 28 Jul 2010
Home secretary kills off Tony Blair's flagship measure to deal with youth crime and anti-social behaviour
Senior Labour figures mounted a last-ditch defence of antisocial behaviour orders tonight after the home secretary, Theresa May, indicated she is to kill off Tony Blair's flagship measure to deal with youth crime.
May said it was "time to move beyond the asbo", arguing that they were never the promised silver bullet and had too often put young people on a conveyor belt to prison.
Two former Labour home secretaries, Alan Johnson and David Blunkett, attacked May's decision. Johnson, in a piece for the Guardian's Comment is Free, argued that asbos had made a huge difference in cutting crime and disorder: "If the home secretary is to restrict the opportunities for the police to use asbos and other measures currently available then this will be yet another example of this government going soft on crime." Blunkett went even further and claimed May's speech posed "a major threat to the lives of those at the very sharp end of criminality and dysfunctional communities".
In her first speech on antisocial behaviour and alcohol-fuelled disorder, the home secretary said it was time to turn the system on its head and demonstrate that community action was needed, rather than Whitehall "magic buttons". May said she wanted asbos replaced with simpler sanctions that were easier to obtain and to enforce: "Where possible they should be rehabilitating and restorative, rather than criminalising and coercive."
Her speech coincided with the publication of new asbo statistics showing that their use has fallen to its lowest level since 2003. Breach rates have also continued to rise, with more than 40% proving ineffective on more than one occasion.
The new figures show that more than 55% of the 16,999 asbos issued between 1999 and 2008 were breached – often many times over – confirming claims that they were seen by some teenage offenders as a "badge of honour". In more than half of cases, breaches led to an immediate custodial sentence.
The Home Office will now review the future of existing antisocial behaviour powers, with the home secretary raising the prospect of their replacement with "restorative justice" measures such as teenagers fixing the damage they have caused or carrying out community activities. "We want a complete change in emphasis, with communities working with the police and other agencies to stop bad behaviour escalating that far," said May.
The home secretary's speech marked a departure not only from New Labour's approach to tackling "yob culture" but also the Tories' own pre-election policy. Her Conservative predecessor, Chris Grayling, last October announced plans for young offenders to be issued with grounding orders and for confiscating their mobile phones. Neither measure was mentioned today. The Liberal Democrats, however, claimed that the speech was the result of May listening to their concerns.
Senior police officers said any new approach had to recognise the harm that antisocial behaviour caused, but they would support simplification of the available powers. Victim Support however said there had to be a recognition that sanctions such as asbos were needed to stop anti-social behaviour.
Doctors should tell people they are fat - Wed, 28 Jul 2010
Anne Milton says word fat more likely to motivate people into shedding pounds, adding it was important they took 'personal responsibility' for lifestyles
Family doctors and nurses should tell people they are fat rather than obese because such plain speaking would help more to lose weight, a health minister said today.
Anne Milton said the word fat was more likely to motivate people into shedding the pounds, adding it was important that they took "personal responsibility" for their lifestyles.
She told the BBC: "If I look in the mirror and think I am obese, I think I am less worried [than] if I think I am fat."
Milton – a former nurse who said she was speaking in a personal capacity – claimed too many NHS staff were worried about using the term fat, but said it could encourage people to take responsibility.
"At the end of the day, you cannot do it for them," she said. "People have to have the information."
Campaigners say the use of the word obese is grounded in medical science, whereas fat is simply a pejorative term.
Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said: "We had this debate 18 months ago when the Department of Health said we should call people overweight.
"Being obese is an internationally accepted medical definition where one's weight is so extreme that there is a risk of comorbidity of stroke, diabetes type two [and] heart disease. Obesity is a wake-up call to do something about weight. It's not just being fat."
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) today published guidelines on pregnancy, saying NHS staff were dealing with "an epidemic of obesity" among pregnant women.
The coalition government has struggled to define an agenda on public health, hoping to move away from the previous government's tendency to make new laws and instead push better behaviour in the wider population.
In doing so, it has come under fire from lobby groups who say people do not change the way they live their lives without signals from the government.
However, anti-smoking groups today praised the minister for confirming that the smoking ban would stay in place despite the previous administration's promises of a review, which would have examined whether it should have been extended to beer gardens and pub doorways.
"We are not rolling back the smoking ban, nor are we deploying austerity as an excuse for deregulation," Milton told an audience of health experts in central London.
Private security on the estate - Wed, 28 Jul 2010
Security companies are already patrolling housing estates, but will the government's radical shakeup of the police service give them a bigger role?
Francis Jones is a 29-year-old former boxer and born-again Christian. He is also the head of Sparta Security, a private security firm in Darlington that organises patrols against antisocial behaviour on local council estates. The words "Instant Alarm Response!!" are blazoned in red across his car. He's got a camera strapped across his chest for monitoring incidents. His blue eyes flash passionately when he talks about his work: "I used to be a naughty paughty, working in bars and clubs – I'd never turn down a fight. Now I'm walking the honest path and protecting the people of Darlington who sign up for my service. I prayed before I started that this would benefit the Lord. But if someone assaulted me I wouldn't hesitate to defend myself. I'm game as apebble!"
Although it is not uncommon to see private security guards patrolling the affluent grounds of gated communities, new firms such as Sparta are starting to serve more diverse constituencies. Jones charges £3.50 a week each to some 100 households around the town – including those on Skerne Park estate and Yarm Road – for residential patrols that guard against vandalism, burglary and antisocial behaviour. He does the rounds twice a day and will respond in person when he is called.
His firm is not unique. Atraks, a company providing security in Southampton, says that it is serving some 440 homes at £3.66 a week, and Garde UK is reported to be patrolling estates in Essex.
Circumstances mean they could be in for more work. A joint report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Audit Commission recently claimed that just one police officer in 10 is able to leave the office and serve on the streets. Meanwhile, the Home Office is facing cuts of 25%, and this month former Gloucestershire chief constable Tim Brain predicted that funding shortages could mean reducing police numbers by up to 60,000, raising seriousquestions about community safety.
"The economy may be going down but burglary isn't," says Jones. "We're here to be the eyes and ears of the police, but the officers aren't for me. They won't let me work with them, and stop me coming to neighbourhood meetings. I suppose it's because of credibility. They don't want to work with me, because it opens up doorways to private security, not just in Darlington but the whole of the UK. Maybe they're afraid of competition."
Sparta, which employs 20 staff on an ad hoc basis and grew out of the community it serves, is small fry compared with other firms eyeing the market. Securitas is a leading global security company that operates in more than 40 countries, employing some 260,000 staff worldwide. It already offers commercial monitoring and emergency response patrols in the UK and is contracted by the police to help secure particular events, such as the upcoming Bulldog Bash motorcyle show and festival in Warwickshire. Securitas's service development manager, John Naughton, says the company offers residential patrols in Germany, and those services could be expanded in the UK.
"There is a market for residential patrols in the UK, and this is something we would be very capable of providing," he says. "I was at an event [where the speaker was] Sir Paul Stephenson [the Metropolitan police commissioner] last week, and he effectively said that UK Police plc was open for business. It might be up to us to get a bit more proactive and make the most of the opportunities there."
Productive partnerships
The work Jones does can sometimes get dangerous. Often the perpetrators Sparta deals with are drunk or out of control, and aggression can easily escalate with locals who think Jones is a "police grass". He regularly disperses large groups of young people who are being loud or unruly in public spaces, and has intervened in cases of bullying and dog attacks. Although he has used some restraining tactics, he says things have never got out of control – if a situation hots up, he always calls thepolice.
Peter Davies, one of two assistant chief constables with Lincolnshire police and the Association of Chief Police Officers' lead on issues to do with private security, says: "The private security industry spans a huge spectrum of providers, from valued partners to real troublemakers."
He is keen to emphasise that the police do form productive partnerships with private contractors, pointing to partnerships at Cribbs Causeway in Bristol and Kirklees as examples. However, he does have "real concerns" about using private firms: "First, there is a point about accountability – if regular officers are discriminatory or discourteous, they are subject to a proper complaints process, which comes with policing by consent – these firms don't have that.
"The second problem is that commercial enterprises can be tempted to generate high levels of fear, which they can then exploit for commercial gain. Finally, there is a question about training. These companies may have received some basic training to get a licence, but it is unlikely to prepare them for everything that might be expected of them."
Under current legislation, every citizen has the power to make a citizen's arrest and to use "proportionate and reasonable force" to protect themselves and others from harm. That means it is not necessary to have a licence to patrol the streets informally, even when money changes hands – although all citizens remain subject to standard legislation against violence and discrimination. If, however, you operate under contract, as Sparta does, a licence from the Security Industry Authority (SIA) is required.
It is impossible to say exactly how many private firms like this are in operation, but the SIA says the total number of licences entitling individuals to take on such patrols is 300,591. Ten thousand have been issued in the past three months alone (although these licences also cover those working as bodyguards and undertaking door supervision, as well as residential patrols).
Naughton says he is worried about companies not upholding the standards of the industry. "We're fighting a battle to raise standards and increase regulation. I'm sure everyone in the industry would agree that we can't have thugs going around the streets fighting thugs – it damages the reputation of us all."
In Darlington, the police say they are comfortable with Sparta's presence at meetings, but they want residents to be aware that private companies do nothavethe powers they have to deal with crime.
And the private firms themselves can become targets. "Children aren't daft – they know the law works in their favour – and I'm constantly being taunted," says Jones. "I had one lad the other day who kept coming at me on a bike, enticing me to flog him. But I'm not stupid; I'm a professional businessman. So I just took him off his bike and held him down while a colleague called the police. People are watching you – you can't be seen to think you're a bigwig off the estate taking the law into your own hands."
Reaction to Sparta's patrols has been mixed. Gail Stevenson is a mother and local volunteer who has lived in Darlington all her life. Her husband employed Sparta to patrol his furniture business after his van was stolen last year. "You wouldn't see anyone else do anything about it [antisocial behaviour]," says Stevenson.
"A lot of young people used to hang around the shops causing trouble, but you don't see that now Francis keeps up a presence. He's well known in town as a boxer and a street preacher, and he wouldn't do violence to anyone. Because he's young he's got a rapport with them."
Not enough police officers
Others on the Skerne Park estate seem less pleased. Sitting in the pub in the heart of the low-rise estate, retired local resident Tony Lowery has lived on his block for 35 years and has mixed feelings about the patrols. "They knock on my door and ask for money and I say I've got a 6ft neighbour who'll look after me. But we've got a lot of problems with kids congregating at nights around the shops, and the police don't have enough officers, so maybe it's a good thing."
Jones is adamant that he provides a vital community service that the police no longer have the resources to deliver. "We see too many muggings, thefts and assaults in our communities," he says. "I am a boxer who can handle myself, but what if you don't box or you are too old to defend yourself? There have been times when, if I hadn't been there, there is a good chance people would have been assaulted. The police are doing a good job, but what can they do if they have to cut staff?"
• This article was amended on 28 July 2010. An editing error deleted the phrase "just one police officer in 10 is able to leave the office" in the fourth paragraph. This has been corrected.
Compulsory retirement at 65 to go - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
Plan to end the so called default retirement age is outlined in a consultation document to be published today
People will be encouraged to work longer under government plans to phase out the so-called default retirement age of 65 by October 2011.
Currently employers can make staff retire at 65 regardless of their circumstances, but ministers signalled this was set to change as people were living longer, healthier lives.
The proposal to phase out the default retirement age (DRA) is outlined in a consultation document, published today, which will run until October.
However, the government said bosses will still be able to operate a compulsory retirement age if they can "objectively justify it".
The move to phase out the DRA is one of a number of measures the government is taking to help and encourage people to work for longer against the backdrop of demographic change.
Other steps include reviewing when the state pension age should increase to 66 and re-establishing the link between earnings and the basic state pension.
The business department said the consultation also proposes to help employers by removing the administrative burden of statutory retirement procedures.
A department spokesperson said: "With the DRA removed there is no reason to keep employees' right to request working beyond retirement or for employers to give them a minimum of six months notice of retirement.
"Although the government is proposing to remove the DRA, it will still be possible for individual employers to operate a compulsory retirement age, provided that they can objectively justify it. Examples could include air traffic controllers and police officers."
The plans provoked a mixed reaction. Campaigners welcomed the decision, but employers warned the removal of a default retirement age could make workforce planning more difficult.
Chris Ball, chief executive of The Age and Employment Network, called it a "win/win outcome" for employers, but warned that today's move is only a first step.
"Many employers will need to adopt a totally new mindset," Ball said. "They will need to actively plan and assist workers to be able to go on contributing to the success of their organisations.
"This may mean adapting work practices and work places. It will certainly mean providing opportunities to train or retrain and to work more flexibly, and, crucially, actually recruiting people in their 50s and 60s where they may not have done so in the past."
Rachel Krys, campaign director of anti-ageism group the Employers Forum on Age (EFA), said the default retirement age, which was created in 2006, was a "dated and unfair system".
"Its removal is simply common sense," she said. "With rising life expectancies, and people staying fitter for longer, it is archaic to assume that someone's age is an indicator of the contribution they can make to the workplace.
"Employers have nothing to fear from this change. This is an outdated policy and the removal of forced retirement is an opportunity to put policies and processes in place which make the most of an age-diverse workforce."
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), which has campaigned for many years to remove the DRA, said the "breakthrough" was "greatly encouraging".
Dianah Worman, the CIPD's diversity adviser, said: "Our research has shown that many employees wish to work past retirement for differing reasons and many employers are already benefiting from allowing such flexibility."
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said the proposals will give employers little time to prepare and leave them with unresolved problems. John Cridland, CBI deputy director-general, said: "Scrapping the DRA will leave a vacuum and raise a large number of complex legal and employment questions, which the government has not yet addressed. Employers and staff will not know where they stand. There will need to be more than a code of practice to address these practical issues; we will need changes in the law to deal more effectively with difficult employment situations."
David Yeandle, the Engineering Employers Federation's head of employment policy, said: "Many manufacturers will be seriously concerned about this change in policy, which will make workforce planning more difficult.
"The proposed timetable also gives employers virtually little or no time to alter their policies and practices before such an important change in employment legislation is introduced.
"There is also a real danger that it could open a Pandora's box with the onus being placed on employers to prove whether older employees are capable of continuing in their current role. Inevitably, this could lead to employment tribunal cases from some older employees who have been dismissed rather than allowed to retire."
'An artifical construct'
As a founder member of the EFA, Nationwide building society has been pushing hard for the DRA to be removed. It has allowed employees to work past retirement up to the age of 70 since 2001, once it realised many of its customers preferred to discuss their financial arrangements with older people.
In 2005 it raised that limit to 75 subject to employees passing what its HR director, John Whitehouse, describes as a "gateway test".
"As long as people want to carry on working and there aren't any problems, we're happy to let them do that," he said. "Since then I can't think of any example of us saying to staff, sorry we don't want you to carry on."
Out of an approximate 15,500 employees, Nationwide has 285 over the age of 60 working in all areas of the business. Its oldest branch manager is 60, while its oldest employee is a 76-year-old lady who works part time in its Swindon call centre.
From an employer's perspective, Whitehouse said Nationwide does have to think about issues like succession and benefits in a different way, "but they are not insurmountable things. Arguably these are things companies should be doing anyway. This artifical construct that we all must stop working at 65 is a relic of past usage. It's the stuff of the 1950s."
Today, pensions minister Steve Webb admitted that people face a "hell of a shock" when they reach retirement because of their failure to save.
In an interview with the Independent, he admitted that the basic state pension of £97 a week is "not enough to live on", and confirmed that the government would raise the state retirement age to 66 earlier than planned. He said that around 7 million people are currently not saving enough to meet their retirement aspirations.
Couple who murdered three-year-old boy in their care jailed for life - Thu, 29 Jul 2010
Kayley Boleyn and Christopher Taylor inflicted more than 70 injuries on toddler Ryan Lovell-Hancox
A couple who murdered a toddler they were paid to look after were today jailed for life.
Kayley Boleyn, 19, and Christopher Taylor, 25, inflicted more than 70 injuries on three-year-old Ryan Lovell-Hancox. The boy lived with the couple at their flat in Bilston, West Midlands, for a month before he was taken to hospital in a coma after a brain haemorrhage.
They had been paid £40 a week by the boy's mother and Boleyn's cousin, 21-year-old Amy Hancox, who felt she could not look after the child because of mental health problems. But Boleyn "abused the trust" of Ryan's parents, who had no idea of their son's suffering.
Wolverhampton crown court heard Taylor and Boleyn forced the youngster to live in squalor in the weeks before his death on Christmas Eve 2008, providing better care for two dogs. Violence towards Ryan was not borne from a "flash of temper", but was sustained and horrific.
Two days before Ryan's death, Hancox tried to batter down the door to Boleyn's home to see her son. But Boleyn, who like her boyfriend abused cannabis and alcohol, refused to let her in as Ryan's face and body was covered in bruising.
Mrs Justice Macur ordered Boleyn to serve at least 13 years in prison while Taylor was told his minimum term would be 15 years. "It's clear to me that you [Boleyn] and your co-defendant were incapable of looking after yourselves, let alone a child," she said.
"There were bruises to his skull, which had been inflicted by up to 10 individual blows. There were marks on his legs and grazes to his face. He had been grabbed forcibly around the jaw and slapped and punched.
"These were not in isolation. There were further assaults to his lower back and buttocks on which there was extensive bruising.
"It really was a case where the jury saw injuries from top to toe. He would have suffered emotionally and physically and he would have needed comfort but you mocked him."
The judge added: "You were unable to keep your own lives under control without smoking cannabis and alcohol and you took your petty grievances out on this boy because you regarded him as hyperactive and out of control."
It was disclosed during today's 45-minute hearing that Boleyn, who with Taylor was found guilty in March of murder and child cruelty, was known to social services. A social worker had attended her home on the day the toddler was taken to hospital.
Social workers were aware Boleyn had problems after she left school, aged 12, to care for her younger siblings.
Frances Oldham QC, for Boleyn, read out a probation officer's report to the court which said: "I believe Miss Boleyn is vulnerable and in need of assistance. She has very few supportive relationships in her life and as a result is very isolated."
Wolverhamton city council said it expected to publish the findings of its serious case review this autumn.
Ryan's mother and his father, John Lovell, 24, wept throughout the hearing. Hancox ran from the public gallery in tears as her victim impact statement was read out. In it she described her son as a "bubbly, intelligent boy who she loved with all her heart".
Khyra Ishaq death 'was preventable' - Tue, 27 Jul 2010
Report lists catalogue of missed opportunities by child services and others to save seven-year-old starved to death by mother
A seven-year-old girl starved to death after a catalogue of missed opportunities by social services and other professionals to intervene, a serious case review found today.
The report, by the Birmingham safeguarding children board (BSCB), comes more than two years after Khyra Ishaq died at her home in the Handsworth area of the city in May 2008, following months of neglect and physical abuse.
She had been withdrawn from school six months earlier and purportedly home-educated by her mother, Angela Gordon.
The report found that Khyra's death could have been prevented, and occurred after the authorities "lost sight" of her.
Hilary Thompson, the chair of the BSCB, said: "The serious case review concludes that although the scale of the abuse inflicted would have been hard to predict, Khyra's death was preventable.
"The report identifies missed opportunities, highlighting that better assessment and information-sharing by key organisations could have resulted in a different outcome."
The 180-page report found that, despite concerns being raised by members of the public and school staff about Khyra's welfare as far back as March 2006, information was not acted upon and safeguarding procedures were not followed.
It said there were a number of early missed opportunities for intervention by professionals. Pointing to three incidents in March 2006 which were not acted upon either through "failures of paperwork to reach the correct departments" or failures to conduct checks or follow safeguarding procedures, the review concluded: "Had there been better assessments and effective interagency communication over a period of time it [Khyra's death] could have been prevented."
A complaint of harassment by Gordon against a social worker who visited their home in February 2008 generated a reluctance to complete an assessment "for fear of wider repercussions within the complaints process".
The report found that some agencies "lost sight of the child and focused instead upon the rights of the adults, the adults' behaviour and the potential impact for themselves as professionals".
In March, Mr Justice Roderick Evans sentenced Gordon, 35, to 15 years in prison and jailed her former partner, Junaid Abuhamza, 31, who has schizophrenia, indefinitely for the public's protection, with a minimum term of seven and a half years.
During the trial it emerged that Khyra had been removed from school in December 2007 and subjected to a punishment regime which included standing outside in the cold for long periods, having cold water poured over her and being beaten with a bamboo cane.
She and five other children – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – in the care of Gordon and Abuhamza were deprived of food and prevented from entering the fully stocked kitchen by a bolt fixed out of their reach on the door.
A postmortem on Khyra found 60 marks, 34 of which could have happened a week before her death. Eight were consistent with being struck by a cane.
There were echoes of the death of Victoria Climbié, who was abused by an aunt, before she died in Haringey, north London, 10 years ago.
The serious case review made 18 specific recommendations for action across Birmingham city council, the city's primary care trusts, West Midlands police, the Birmingham Children's Trust and the safeguarding board. A further 53 areas for improvement were identified.
Twelve of the recommendations relate either directly or jointly to Birmingham's children's services.
The council said 10 of the recommendations had already been acted upon and three members of staff who had "significant involvement" with Khyra had been subjected to disciplinary procedures. Tony Howell, strategic director for children, young people and families at the council, would not comment on the nature of the disciplinary action.
Speaking after the report was published, he said: "I know that everyone involved with Khyra and her family in my department has been deeply affected by her death.
"As professionals, we need to make the changes necessary to prevent such tragedies in the future. For our part we have undergone a major review of children's social care, strengthened our management team, increased capacity on the frontline and are in the process of remodelling our workforce."
He insisted his department would "do whatever it takes to ensure children in this city are safe from those who would do them harm".
Les Lawrence, council cabinet member for children, young people and families, said: "Today's publication of the serious case review clearly highlights the opportunities missed by a number of agencies to intervene in the abuse being inflicted on Khyra by the people she trusted to look after her.
"Today, as we remember Khyra Ishaq's life, we reaffirm our commitment to create a children's social care service that better protects our young people from those who would harm them. Let this be Khyra's legacy."
The education secretary, Michael Gove, said that Khyra's death was preventable and that it was "beyond anyone's comprehension" that a child could die in such tragic circumstances.
"It is extremely difficult to prevent random and isolated incidents of violence against children, but the tragedy is that Khyra Ishaq endured a painful abuse over many months and eventually died, and this could and should have been prevented," he said. "Today's serious case review confirms that all the agencies in Birmingham failed to protect this vulnerable child.
"Clearly lessons need to be learned by the tragic events in this case, and I will consider the letter I expect to receive from Birmingham shortly, to see what changes need to be made to the existing arrangements, and reply in due course."
