This must be one of the worst under-reported scandals of our times: councils are sending 100s of kids to unregulated care homes where they are being targeted by gangs. My write up of new research 👇 www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

Illegal children’s homes used as recruiting grounds for criminal gangs

New report cites police, council and charity workers describing the acute dangers faced by children in unregistered settings

thebureauinvestigates.com

Illegal children’s homes used as recruiting grounds for criminal gangs @tomwall.bsky.social on a new report which cites police, council and charity workers describing the dangers faced by children in unregistered settings

Illegal children’s homes used as recruiting grounds for criminal gangs

New report cites police, council and charity workers describing the acute dangers faced by children in unregistered settings

thebureauinvestigates.com

Lobbying by powerful firms should at the very least be out in the open. But I’ve discovered big tech execs have been secretly meeting with a key Number 10 advisor. My exclusive for the Guardian 1/2 www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Starmer adviser held 16 undisclosed meetings with top US tech bosses

Exclusive: Varun Chandra’s talks with Google, Meta, Apple and others raise fears of ‘lobbying behind closed doors’

theguardian.com

Yesterday we exposed an appalling abuse scandal in an illegal children's home. Today we can reveal that one of the convicted criminals employed by the firm had neglected a child in his previous job 1/3 www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

Abusive carer had neglected an injured child in previous job

Protective Care Group failed to tell offender’s next boss about ‘substantiated allegation’

thebureauinvestigates.com

@tomwall.bsky.social and I will be discussing this investigation - and what happens next - live at 6pm tomorrow. Sign up to join us here us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: How we uncovered the true cost of illegal children’s homes. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

An increasing number of vulnerable young people across the country are being placed in children’s homes that are not regulated by Ofsted – which is against the law. In 2024 alone, nearly 800 children ...

us06web.zoom.us

A council sent a highly vulnerable girl to an illegal children's home staffed by criminals They plied her with alcohol and drugs and sexually abused her Vital reporting by @tomwall.bsky.social for @tbij.bsky.social

Two ex-soldiers abused a vulnerable 15-year-old in an illegal…

Ordeal came after Caerphilly council sent a vulnerable girl 300 miles away to an unregistered home staffed by convicted criminals

thebureauinvestigates.com

I've spent the past 4 months investigating one of the worst safeguarding failures in the shadow care system, where hundreds of kids live in illegal children's homes. My report for @tbij.bsky.social 1/2👇 www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

Two ex-soldiers abused a vulnerable 15-year-old in an illegal…

Ordeal came after Caerphilly council sent a vulnerable girl 300 miles away to an unregistered home staffed by convicted criminals

thebureauinvestigates.com

Ministers have promised to make work pay - but I've discovered hundreds of workers without employment rights on government contracts from the NHS to the courts. More tonight on File on 4 at 8pm & BBC Sounds now www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

BBC Radio 4 - File on 4 Investigates, Bogus self-employment - who pays the price?

Why is the rise in bogus self-employment a problem for all of us?

bbc.co.uk

It is illegal to run a children’s home that isn’t registered with Ofsted Yet local councils are increasingly reliant on such placements – and use your money to fund them

Illegal children’s homes: company that let child sleep on floor…

Ofsted suspended GMT after visiting a dilapidated and unsafe home. Yet its operators are still providing care for vulnerable children

thebureauinvestigates.com

A company found to be providing inadequate care by a High Court judge & Ofsted has collected millions for running illegal children's homes. Two children are currently living in the firm's illegal homes. New from myself & @garethtbij.bsky.social www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

Illegal children’s homes: company that let child sleep on floor…

Ofsted suspended GMT after visiting a dilapidated and unsafe home. Yet its operators are still providing care for vulnerable children

thebureauinvestigates.com

Revealed: Company paid millions of pounds to run illegal children’s homes was suspended by Ofsted after a vulnerable child was found to be sleeping on a mattress on the floor in a run-down bungalow New for @tbij.bsky.social by me and @tomwall.bsky.social

Illegal children’s homes: company that let child sleep on floor…

Ofsted suspended GMT after visiting a dilapidated and unsafe home. Yet its operators are still providing care for vulnerable children

thebureauinvestigates.com

Conservative Mayor of Tees Valley Lord Houchen told Newsnight in 2024 that 2 private developers had ‘£50m of their money sitting in a bank account’ when I quoted an independent report pointing out the pair had put no direct cash of their own into regenerating the huge old Redcar steelworks site 👇

Wes Streeting and Keir Starmer are doing their best to demonise resident doctors but 1000s have voted for strike action because they are worse off than they were in 2008 - and the service is on its knees because of underfunding.

Such a devastating and important investigation by Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne. Glad to have helped in a small way. www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world

A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors

theguardian.com

Seems like a good time (again) to share the guide I developed with @freedomfromtorture.bsky.social, which tells you how to talk about refugees and asylum in a way that actually convinces the undecided - based on testing 🧵 www.freedomfromtorture.org/changing-the...

Changing the Conversation on Asylum: A Messaging Guide

Our new messaging guide looks at the methodology and messages that can help us carve out a new approach that will be successful in persuading the public that seeking safety is a fundamental human righ...

freedomfromtorture.org

About 50 antiasylum protesters led by far right UKIP leader Nick Tenconi were outnumbered by over 400 anti fascists in Bristol today. Lots of refugees waved at the crowd protecting the Mercure Hotel, with one girl making a silver heart and holding up against the window.

perating a children’s home that is not registered with Ofsted is a criminal offence Yet, Cornwall Council offered suppliers £6 million to provide “staffing for unregistered places” across the county – and advertised the contract on a government website

Cornwall council offered suppliers £6m to staff illegal children’s…

Regulators intervene after UK local authority accused of normalising unlawful placements

thebureauinvestigates.com

The crisis in children's care is now so deep that one council has been caught openly promoting a multimillion pound contracts to staff illegal children's homes. My latest for the @tbij.bsky.social 👇 www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025...

This is why the CMA had to act - corporates have been putting pressure on vets to charge pet owners more. We spoke to whistle blowers who revealed the monitoring & strategies used to maximise corporate profits for this BBC investigation. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Vets say they are under pressure to bring in more money per pet

Some tell the BBC they are encouraged to compete over the number of procedures they carry out on pets.

bbc.com

This speech epitomises the tragedy of Labour centrists: they call out the dog whistle racism of mass deportations of recent mostly non white migrants but the response is a diet version of the same policy: make it much harder for the same migrants to stay. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Shabana Mahmood calls Nigel Farage ‘worse than racist’ over ‘dog-whistle politics’

Home secretary also tells Labour conference fringe event of the abuse her family have been subjected to recently

theguardian.com

Compare the post war efforts to house people with the current government. 🏘️ between 1945 & 1951 over 80% of 1.2 million built were council owned social housing. 🏘️ Only 20% of the 12 new towns to be announced at Lab conference will be social housing www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Plan to build 12 new towns in England to be unveiled at Labour conference

Housing secretary is set to announce initiative modelled on Clement Attlee’s postwar ‘housing boom’

theguardian.com

Everyone should read the case of Fernando Fontoura in The Guardian by @tomwall.bsky.social today. I hope Labour don’t think they’re doing what they’re doing to him in my name. Shocking.

This is the ugly reality of Labour's crackdown on "illegal working": a man who grew up here grabbed on the street, locked up for a month & threatened with deportation. My report for the Guardian 👇 www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Every day this Summer has been a record of how Nigel Farage already runs the country. An endless cycle of hate & racism. One day boat arrivals, the next releasing ethnicity data for crimes, so we can know whether to riot if they’re brown or shrug if they’re white. Back to the 70s🤦‍♀️ #r4today

The family of Bebe King, one of the girls killed in the Southport attack, have urged ministers to reconsider disclosing ethnicity of suspects. They say family were failed by “despicable” actions of far right, who “tried to make political gain from our tragedy” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Family of Southport stabbing victim criticise plan to reveal ethnicity of suspects

Exclusive: Michael Weston King, grandfather of Bebe King, warns government against ‘kowtowing to the likes of Farage’

theguardian.com

1. The impacts of predatory capital - impossible rents, failing public services, rising costs of living - are being blamed across the billionaire press on immigrants and Black and Brown people. It's so crude, so obvious, so familiar .... but if you tell the lie often enough, people believe it. 🧵

The conflict playing out on the Bristol Downs is a microcosm of the UK's multiple crises: not enough affordable housing, low wages & threadbare support services.... while the rich get richer. My report for the Guardian 👇 www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

‘They lump us all together’: van-dwellers and homeowners clash over life near Bristol Downs

People living in vans on the park are the subject of a campaign from those living nearby – and the Green-led council is being forced to act

theguardian.com

Expert's suspension raises questions over 'huge' number of family court cases Great reporting by @hansummers.bsky.social & @tomwall.bsky.social for @tbij.bsky.social's #familycourtfiles series

Expert’s suspension raises questions over ‘huge’ number of family…

Graham Flatman may have wrongfully given evidence in seven cases uncovered by TBIJ – and that could be the tip of the iceberg

thebureauinvestigates.com

“You could send him to Disney[land] Paris for a month and save some money" Judge's verdict on UK council that paid £500,000 to house 10-year-old boy in an illegal children's home for four months Story by @tomwall.bsky.social for @tbij.bsky.social

UK council placed 10-year-old in illegal children’s home costing £29k…

Isle of Wight has paid over half a million pounds for four months of ‘wholly inadequate’ care

thebureauinvestigates.com

This is a scandal hiding in plain sight - 100s of vulnerable kids sent to illegal children's homes every year at vast public expense. This latest case reveals a system in crisis. My report for @tbij.bsky.social & @thetimes.com with ‪ @andrewellson1.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

Council spent £500,000 to house vulnerable child in unregistered home

A judge has ruled that the standard of care was‘wholly inadequate’ after hearing of staff’s frequent use of restraint and the boy’s social isolation

thetimes.com