Latest news with #CharteredInstitute
The Guardian
a day ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Councils face millions in extra Send costs as overhaul delayed
Cash-strapped councils in England will be hit with hundreds of millions of pounds in extra costs after the government delayed tackling the £5bn deficits spent supporting children and young people with special needs and disabilities. Council leaders and experts said the two-year delay prolongs the financial struggles faced by local authorities as they await the government's overhaul of special educational needs and disabilities (Send) provision, and warned it could force more councils into sell-offs and insolvency. Local authorities have been allowed to keep high-needs deficits off their balance sheets, thanks to a special statutory override. This mechanism was due to end next April, creating a 'cliff-edge' that threatened to bankrupt scores of councils. The override will now run until April 2028, the government announced as part of its wider reforms to revitalise local government funding in England. Iain Murray, director of public financial management at the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, said the changes have not fixed the fundamental pressures facing local governments. Murray said: 'Without urgent solutions to both existing and future Send deficits, those councils grappling with unsustainable high-needs costs and rapidly growing cumulative deficits may, at best, be forced to make further reductions in essential services, and at worst, risk declaring themselves effectively bankrupt.' The Local Government Association has said more than half of councils risked becoming insolvent if the override ended next April. A Guardian investigation revealed in March that their combined deficits would reach £5.2bn by the end of this year. The additional borrowing is likely to reach £200m a year in interest payments and associated costs, as well as lost income from investments and assets as councils use up their reserves to cover the deficits and loans. Tim Oliver, chair of the County Councils Network, said: 'Council leaders can breathe a sigh of relief knowing they no longer face a financial cliff edge in nine months' time. 'We now need to ensure that the government's commitment to support councils to manage their Send deficits rings true. 'Despite the extension of the statutory override, many councils still face a number of issues, including rising debt outstripping reserves, mounting interest payments and lost investment income. For some, this could mean reducing services elsewhere or running into extreme financial difficulty. 'Therefore, it is critical government sets out a comprehensive solution later this year. This should include writing off deficits and compensating councils … ensuring that the slate is wiped clean.' Helen Hayes, the Labour MP who chairs the Commons education committee, said the extension was a 'temporary fix', and warned: 'The government should not delay a permanent resolution to local authorities' long-term Send deficits beyond 2028 and it must work to devise a solution that helps councils to achieve long-term financial sustainability and does not damage their finances further.' Council high-needs budgets have been under pressure from the sharp rise in children with special needs, with the number requiring extra resources detailed in education, health and care plans (EHCPs) rocketing in recent years. Nearly one in five schoolchildren in England now have recognised special educational needs, according to Department for Education figures, including 482,600 children with EHCPs. The government said it will use the two-year delay to reform how the Send system works and is funded. In that time ministers say they intend to deal with the high-needs deficits, despite only raising central funding for local government 1.1% a year on average until 2028-29. A government spokesperson said: 'This government inherited a Send system left on its knees, which is why we are looking at changes through our plan for change to improve support for children and stop parents having to fight for help while bringing about financial sustainability for councils. 'We will set out our full plans for reform in the autumn, including our approach to supporting councils with their deficits, to deliver excellence everywhere for every child.' Other measures in the consultation will see government grants moved away from wealthier urban centres such as London towards to places with higher deprivation levels, as well as rural authorities and tourist hotspots where funding does not account for surges in visitors. Officials say the move will not lead to higher council taxes, in part because the government's financial forecasts assume councils putting council tax up by 4.99% – the maximum increase without holding a referendum. Jack Shaw of Manchester University, an expert in local government, said: 'The longstanding failure to reform council tax has had a more detrimental impact on councils outside London and the south-east, so it's right that funding is corrected to take that into account. Some authorities will lose out, but there are transitional arrangements to mitigate that. 'Council cuts under the Conservatives mean that it'll take some time to put them on a more sustainable footing. Funding reform will improve the fortunes of many councils, but they'll continue to face acute financial challenges.'
Daily Mail
30-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Katie Price's butt lift injector BANNED from all procedures...after he left women with killer sepsis
A celeb-backed liquid BBL injector has been banned from carrying out cosmetic procedures following a shocking BBC investigation and subsequent court ruling. 'Beauty consultant', Rick Sawyer, was found to be administering injections containing up to 1,000ml of dermal filler into clients' buttocks, despite not having a single healthcare qualification. The president of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, Mark Elliot, today slammed the shocking and dangerous practices Mr Sawyer was found to have committed. 'The regulatory framework has failed to keep pace with the increase in the prevalence of cosmetic procedures in recent years, fuelled by social media,' he said. Sawyer was exposed in a chilling documentary that saw him working out of a rented office block in London, performing dangerous procedures, that left women hospitalised with deadly sepsis. On Wednesday 28 May, a judge at the Manchester Civil Justice Centre granted an injunction against the self-proclaimed cosmetician, banning him from performing any procedures in England and Wales until 27 May 2028. The injunction will also prohibit Sawyer from possessing related surgical equipment or any antibiotics typically used in such treatments, unless prescribed for his own personal use. The court attached a power of arrest to the order, meaning Sawyer could be arrested without a warrant if he is found to be in breach of these terms. He has been given 21 days to challenge the injunction. 'We believe that the most high-risk cosmetic procedures, such as the BBL, should be designated as surgical and undertaken only by appropriately trained, regulated and experienced GMC-registered doctors,' Mr Elliot continued. The court, together with Trafford Council, heard evidence from the original BBC investigation, which featured testimonies from nearly 40 women, alongside graphic pictures submitted by one of Mr Sawyer's clients. James Parry, the lawyer who raised the case, said the injuries suffered were akin to that of a 'serious knife crime'. One woman, who suffered sepsis—a life-threatening reaction to an infection—after undergoing a procedure by Sawyer, shared her story. Ashely, 27, who attended one of Sawyer's pop-up clinics in London, said: 'He butchered me, there is no other word for it'. Ashely said that when she left the clinic, covered in blood, she was barely able to walk. Three days later she was rushed to hospital with sepsis, where she could have died without treatment. This happens when your immune system overreacts to an infection and starts to attack your body's own tissues and organs. Without treatment, this can quickly develop into septic shock, causing the organs to shut down completely. The liquid BBL procedure is notoriously risky, especially when performed by non-medics. This is because when injected into or near a blood vessel, filler can block blood flow leading to tissue death. Inadequately sterilising equipment can too, trigger dangerous infections. Reacting to Wednesday's court proceedings, Ashley said: 'I am relieved, it makes me feel that we're being taken seriously.' The environmental health watchdog is now urging the government to enforce a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures across England with the hope that it will prevent people without the proper certifications from preforming these dangerous procedures. Mr Elliot said: 'This scheme will help to ensure that people who undergo non-surgical cosmetic procedures receive treatment from practitioners who are properly trained and qualified, have the necessary insurance cover and operate from premises that are safe and hygienic.' Another of Mr Sawyer's clients required life-saving emergency surgery that saw medics cut dead tissue from almost the entire left buttock, the BBC probe found. Louise Moller, from Bolton, was hospitalised four days after receiving a liquid BBL at his Essex clinic in October 2023 and was told she had contracted sepsis. The now 28-year-old rang her mother, Janet, from Salford Royal's A&E department and said: 'Mum, I think I'm going to die.' The BBC documentary saw one woman known only as Joanne, travel seven hours from south Wales to Essex for the liquid BBL treatment. The mum-of-two said she had undergone other cosmetic treatments previously and had been persuaded to get a 'peachy bum' by Mr Sawyer's adverts and celebrity endorsements. However, when she arrived she claimed his clinic was in a block of flats in an industrial estate and she waited in a 'dingy little hallway' for roughly half an hour. 'I should have turned and ran but I had paid £600 deposit and travelled all this way,' she said. After parting with the additional £1,400 for the treatment, she then stood in front of him while he sat on a stool and injected her with a litre of filler. 'I felt dizzy, sick and like shaky. My legs didn't even move properly. And that was all within a minute of him starting,' she said. 'I remember looking round and he had white gloves on that were full of blood.' By the time she returned to South Wales hours later, the swelling had begun and she could hardly walk, she claimed. 'I messaged Ricky loads of times to say how bad I was feeling and how worried I was. He just told me to take my antibiotics,' she added. 'My temperature kept on going up and I felt terrible. I had to phone 999. I was dripping with sweat and screaming.' In hospital, she was diagnosed with sepsis and attached to intravenous antibiotics. Medics fortunately did not need to operate. Experts have long warned of 'non-surgical' aesthetic treatments carried out by practitioners will little experience and repeatedly called for tighter controls over the cosmetic industry. While the risks of a traditional Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) are well known — surgery to transfer fat from other areas to the buttocks — a non-surgical methods that aim to create the same result are less understood. Unlike a traditional BBL which sees fat transferred from other areas of the body, a liquid BBL involves hyaluronic acid fillers. Dermal filler — the same material used to fill lips — is injected in large quantities into the buttock. Non-surgical BBLs are not illegal in the UK. However, several local authorities including Wolverhampton, Essex and Glasgow have banned certain companies from carrying out liquid BBLs in their area. And since the BBC documentary aired Trafford, Salford and Manchester councils have banned Sawyer from practicing in their areas. Trafford Council will continue to monitor compliance with the injunction and encourages anyone with information about unlawful cosmetic procedures to contact them.
