Post Office report set to lay bare human impact of IT scandal

9 hours ago Share Save Emma Simpson and Mitchell Labiak Business correspondent & Business reporter, BBC News Share Save

Getty Images The Justice For Sub-postmasters Alliance attended the inquiry

Tuesday will mark a major milestone in the long road to justice for the victims of the Post Office IT scandal following a far-reaching inquiry. Part of a final report will be published focusing on compensation and the human impact of what is believed to be one of the biggest miscarriages of justices in UK history. Thousands of sub-postmasters were wrongly blamed for financial losses from the Post Office's faulty Horizon computer system, which was developed by Fujitsu. More than 900 people were prosecuted and 236 were sent to prison.

Sir Wyn Williams, chair of the long-running inquiry, has put victims at the heart of the work, which has pored over several decades worth of technical evidence and grilled many of those who had a role in ruining so many lives. Dozens of sub-postmasters have given evidence, many who had lost their businesses, their homes and some who were jailed. Sir Wyn's findings on their treatment will surely be damning given everything he has heard since the inquiry began in 2022. The inquiry became almost box office viewing - racking up more than 20 million views on YouTube, with people with no connection to the Post Office following it closely. However, it is going to be months before we find out who Sir Wyn will point the finger of blame at. That will come in the next part of the report, meaning that accountability is still a long way off.

'Patchwork quilt'

Sir Wyn has taken a big interest in compensation for the victims, admitting at one point that he'd stretched his terms of reference on the issue, "perhaps beyond breaking point". He held four separate hearings on redress and issued an interim report in 2023, likening the various schemes to a "patchwork quilt with a few holes in it". Victims and their legal representatives still battling to secure final payouts will be looking to see what his conclusions are on compensation and whether it is living up to the mantra of being full and fair. They hope his recommendations will result in more action. Sir Wyn knows how pressing compensation is to many of the victims and that's why he wants to publish his recommendations on the issue as soon as possible. "It's something I am very keen to say as much about as I reasonably can," he told the inquiry last year. But the implication from this is that part two - establishing what happened and who is to blame - isn't coming out any time soon. This second report may not be published until 2026 given the sheer volume and complexity of the evidence as well as the need to give those who are criticised the chance to respond. As for justice, any criminal trials may not start until 2028. Police investigating the scandal confirmed last month that files won't be handed to prosecutors until after the final inquiry report is published. After years of waiting, even after part one of Sir Wyn's report is published, the sub-postmasters' long road to justice will continue.

First hosepipe ban of 2025 declared in Yorkshire

2 hours ago Share Save Steve Jones & Paul Hudson BBC News, Yorkshire Share Save

BBC Reservoir levels across Yorkshire are at a record low, according to Yorkshire Water

A hosepipe ban affecting more than five million people in Yorkshire will come into effect from Friday. Yorkshire Water said the region had experienced its driest and warmest spring on record with only 15cm of rainfall between February and June - less than half of what would be expected in an average year. Yorkshire is the first part of the UK to face restrictions on water usage amid an extended spell of dry weather nationwide. Dave Kaye, director of water at Yorkshire Water, said the restrictions "are intended to make sure we have enough supply for the essential needs of people across the region this year and next as well as making sure we are able to protect our local environment".

The ban applies to customers across much of Yorkshire, parts of North Lincolnshire and parts of Derbyshire. It prohibits the use of a hosepipe for activities such as watering the garden, washing the car or filling a paddling pool. Anyone flouting the restriction could be fined up to £1,000. The ban comes after the Environment Agency declared a drought across the region last month. Nationally, England recorded its warmest June on record after the driest spring for 132 years. According to Yorkshire Water, reservoir levels currently stand at just over 50% - a record low for the time of the year and "significantly below" the average for early July, which is nearer 80%.

Baitings Reservoir, near Ripponden, has almost completely dried out

Mr Kaye said water supplies would normally be topped up by rainfall in spring but reservoir stocks had been falling since the last week of January. Recent downpours had "helped slightly", he added, but he said that "constant high temperatures and more dry weather" had only increased water usage. "With more dry weather forecast in the coming weeks, it is likely our stocks will continue to fall. "We need to act now to maintain clean water supplies and long-term river health." Mr Kaye said the ban would be in place "until the region has seen significant rainfall to bring reservoirs and groundwater stocks back to where they need to be". He said: "This may last into the winter months."

Paul Hudson/BBC Dave Kaye, pictured, has warned the ban could last until the winter

Yorkshire Water said it had supplied an additional 4.3 billion litres of water between April and June compared with a typical year due to the sustained hot weather - enough to supply Leeds for five weeks. The company increased bills by almost 30% in April although customers will now be restricted on how much water they use. In October, the Environment Agency (EA) reported that 21% of Yorkshire Water's supplies were lost due to leakage, higher than the national average of 19%. The company said it had been "finding and fixing leaks 24/7 which has resulted in leakage being at its lowest ever level in Yorkshire". Although hosepipe bans in Yorkshire are fairly rare - this is just the third in 30 years - they have become more common, with water use also restricted in 2022.

Analysis - Paul Hudson, Climate & Environment correspondent

Questions are likely to be asked about why the region is facing its second hosepipe ban in just three years and whether its water supply is robust enough. It is striking that Yorkshire's reservoirs, which were full at the end of January, have lost half of their capacity in just five months. There is no doubt that rainfall has been exceptionally low since February. But at a time when the climate is changing – there have been three exceptionally dry springs in the past 14 years - the demand for water has increased sharply. Yorkshire's population has grown by approximately 500,000 since 2000 but no new reservoirs have been built since Thruscross in the Washburn Valley in 1966. In the short term, Yorkshire Water will be hoping the measures announced today will be enough to slow the fall in reservoir levels until the rain returns and replenishes supplies. But, in the longer term, with the combined challenges of climate change and population growth, water restrictions may become much more common.

Hosepipe ban: New restrictions across Yorkshire

The UK's third heatwave of the summer is forecast to arrive later this week and it could be the most widespread and sustained one yet.

High pressure is set to build allowing for plenty of sunshine, with a feed of south or south-easterly winds bringing hot air from continental Europe.

Temperatures are expected to peak at 33C (91F) in England over the weekend but very warm or hot weather is also likely to affect Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

It is possible that some places could have seven days of temperatures that exceed their heatwave criteria. High or very high UV and pollen levels are also predicted.

Non-disclosure agreements gagging workers to be banned

16 minutes ago Share Save Zoe Conway Employment correspondent, BBC News Share Save

Getty Images Zelda Perkins (L) along with Laura Madden (R) spoke out against Harvey Weinstein

Employers will be banned from using non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to silence victims of workplace sexual misconduct or discrimination, the government has said. An amendment to the Employment Rights Bill, which is expected to become law later this year, will void any confidentiality agreements seeking to prevent workers from speaking about allegations of harassment or discrimination. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said it was "time we stamped this practice out". The use of NDAs to cover up criminality has been in the headlines ever since Zelda Perkins, a former assistant to Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul and now convicted sex offender, broke her agreement to accuse him of abuse.

More recently, the now deceased Mohamed Al Fayed, who used to own Harrods, was accused of deploying confidentiality clauses to silence women who accused him of rape and abuse. An NDA is a legally binding document that protects confidential information between two parties. They can be used to protect intellectual property or other commercially sensitive information but over the years their uses have spread. Ms Perkins began campaigning for a change in the law more than seven years ago when she spoke out against Weinstein. She now runs the campaign group Can't Buy My Silence UK and said the amendment marked a ''huge milestone'' and that it showed the government had ''listened and understood the abuse of power taking place". Though she told the BBC's Today Programme: "Let's see what comes out in the actual details". She said "the real horror" of NDAs was that "the law protected the powerful person in the room, not the victims of a sexual crime". Ms Perkins said many of these agreements designed to silence victims would be unenforceable in court but they work because many victims do not know that. "Because of the nature of an NDA, no-one gets to see it. So they can say anything to make the victim afraid to speak," she said.

Texans gathered at a park in downtown San Antonio to honour the victims of the flash fooding that hit Central Texas on Friday. At least 100 people have died, with dozens more unaccounted for.

Camp Mystic, a Christian all-girls' summer camp, confirmed at least 27 girls and staff were among the dead. Ten girls and a camp counsellor are still missing.

Video by Angélica Casas

M60 shut for second day after eight-vehicle crash

One lorry had driven through the central reservation while another had shed its load of beer barrels

Part of the M60 is shut in both directions for a second day after an eight-vehicle crash, National Highways has said.

The road remains closed after the pile up involving three lorries, two cars and a van at about 11:30 BST on Monday between junction 25 for the Bredbury Interchange and junction 1 for the Pyramid Roundabout in Stockport.

One lorry had driven through the central reservation and hit several lamp posts, while another had shed its load of beer barrels.

National Highways said recovery work is now complete and all road users caught within the closures have been released. It added emergency resurfacing work is now taking place and the motorway will be closed until 10:00.

US trade pause a factor in JLR sales fall

Jaguar Land Rover resumed exports to the United States in May after a brief pause

In April, the US government said it would launch an additional 25% tariff on car imports , but it later came to a deal with the UK and JLR restarted exports in May.

It said the drop in sales was also partly due to the planned wind-down of older Jaguar models.

The Coventry-based car manufacturer, which also has sites in Solihull and at i54 near Wolverhampton, paused shipments to the US in April after President Trump's administration introduced new tariff plans.

Jaguar Land Rover has said its sales have dropped by 15.1% over the three months to June, partly because of the threat of US tariffs.

JLR said its retail sales were down by 94,420 units over the three months to June and wholesale sales dropped by 10.7% to 87,286 units compared with a year earlier.

The US said its tariff on car imports was intended to encourage more car production within the country.

The deal it reached with the UK was to introduce a lower 10% tariff for the first 100,000 UK-manufactured cars imported into the US each year.

UK cars imported to the US beyond this threshold will, however, face a 27.5% tariff.

The car firm said on Monday that wholesale sales in North America dropped by 12.2% year-on-year when it paused shipments.

However, wholesale sales in the UK saw a bigger fall, by a quarter, because of the "planned cessation of the legacy Jaguar models".

Jaguar stopped selling new cars in the UK late last year to allow it to shift production to new electric models, which are set to go on sale in 2026.

At the time the import tariffs were first announced, Prof David Bailey of Birmingham Business School said one in four JLR cars were sent to the United States.

He said it was the premium and luxury cars which sold especially well there and the US was the second biggest market for the UK's industry after the European Union.

Maternity brand worn by Kate enters administration

The fashion retailer was founded in 2002, but perhaps hit its peak when Catherine wore its maternity clothes on several occasions, leading to items quickly selling out.

It said the brand had experienced "trading challenges" in recent times with sales being hit by "fragile consumer confidence".

Consultancy firm Interpath confirmed to the BBC on Monday that it had been appointed as administrators by the company and that the "majority" of its 95 staff had been made redundant.

The maternity fashion retailer Seraphine, whose clothes were worn by the Princess of Wales during her three pregnancies, has ceased trading and entered administration.

Prior to the confirmation that administrators had been appointed, which was first reported by the Financial Times, Seraphine's website was offering discounts on items as big as 60%. Its site now appears to be inaccessible to shoppers.

The main job of administration is to save the company, and administrators will try to rescue it by selling it, or parts of it. If that is not possible it will be closed down and all its saleable assets sold.

Will Wright, UK chief executive of Interpath, said economic challenges such as "rising costs and brittle consumer confidence" had proved "too challenging to overcome" for Seraphine.

Interpath said options are now being explored for the business and its assets, including the Seraphine brand.

The retailer's flagship store was in Kensington High Street, London, but other well-known shops, such as John Lewis and Next, also stocked its goods.

The rise in popularity of Seraphine, driven in part by Royalty wearing its clothes, led to the company listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2021, before being taking back into private ownership in 2023.

Interpath said in April this year, the company "relaunched its brand identity, with a renewed focus on form, function and fit".

"However, with pressure on cashflow continuing to mount, the directors of the business sought to undertake an accelerated review of their investment options, including exploring options for sale and refinance," a statement said.

"Sadly, with no solvent options available, the directors then took the difficult decision to file for the appointment of administrators."

Staff made redundant as a result of the company's downfall are to be supported making claims to the redundancy payments service, Interpath added.

Newscast

National Emergency Alert Test: Newscast In COBR

Newscasts is in COBR as it's announced there will be a new national emergency alert test.

Newcastle United have agreed a £55m fee with Nottingham Forest for Sweden winger Anthony Elanga.

Sources have told BBC Sport the deal could be completed this week.

Newcastle are seeking to strengthen their attacking options as they prepare for their return to the Champions League following a fifth-placed Premier League finish last season.

The 23-year-old scored six goals and produced 11 assists for Nuno Espirito Santo's side during their successful 2024-25 Premier League season.

Newcastle have yet to pay a fee for a player this summer, with 18-year-old Spanish winger Antonio Cordero the only new arrival on a free transfer from Malaga.

Forest are believed to have paid £15m to sign Elanga from Manchester United on a five-year-deal in 2023.

He had arrived at Old Trafford at the age of 12 and made 55 appearances before moving to the City Ground.

Up Next. 'Whatever they do is a risk' - Vaughan on England bowling dilemma. Video, 00:03:53'Whatever they do is a risk' - Vaughan on England bowling dilemma