File on 4 Investigates

The law says decisions about care for people who can not decide for themselves should be done collaboratively with the person’s best interests always at heart. So why do family members, feeling ignored and even intimidated, often find themselves in open conflict with councils and care providers? In Scotland and Northern Ireland issues of who makes decisions about the best interests of a person who...

Households in Britain are recycling more than ever, with millions of us dutifully sorting through our rubbish every week in an effort to help save the planet. But when the blue, green and brown bins are taken away, what really happens to our waste? File on 4 goes digging through Britain’s multi-million pound recycling industry - and discovers it’s a dirty business. The UK sends more than half its...

Children's homes offer sanctuary to young people whose childhoods have been disrupted by abuse, neglect or family breakdown. More than 2,200 homes are spread across the country providing young people the opportunity to get their lives back on track. For many, a residential home provides much needed stability and care when there had previously been none, and a vital opportunity to experience a sett...

Opioids like morphine, tramadol and fentanyl are super-strength painkillers. They’re often prescribed by doctors for chronic pain, despite little evidence to say they’re helpful in it's treatment. Now, there is a growing recognition that over-prescribing of these drugs has led to addiction, harm or even death. Reporter Anna Cavell examines what's led to the increase in the prescribing of these pow...

In the autumn of 2016 the authorities in France closed down a large migrant camp in Calais known as The Jungle. At its height more than 9,000 people from around the world lived in the camp while attempting to make it across to the UK, often hiding in the back of lorries or packed into small boats. It was hoped the camp's closure would stem the number of people risking their lives to try to get to...

You can't take money with you when you die.... or can you? In this episode of File on 4 the stranger than fiction story that's the latest cryptocurrency scandal to leave tens of thousands of people out of pocket. The news about QuadrigaCX broke almost to the day that crypto-currencies celebrated a decade in existence. On this anniversary, we investigate the current state of the market and uncover...

The UK's Military Flying Training System trains pilots on aircraft from fighter planes to navy helicopters. It takes years for trainees to get their wings. But delays in the system, mean many pilots and crew are 'on hold', waiting months, often years to take to the skies. File on 4 investigates the reasons for the hold ups. What's the impact of these delays on the public purse and on our military...

If you’ve been the victim of sexual or violent crimes then you can apply for compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). During 2017-2018, the government funded scheme paid out over £154 million to help people rebuild their lives. But for some victims it’s not straightforward. Solicitors and charities argue that inflexible rules exclude too many people from successfully...

Police across the globe have successfully infiltrated leading dark web criminal markets. The result is that the trade in illegal drugs, stolen credit cards and indecent images of children is shifting to encrypted mobile phone apps. The crooks believe their business is protected by 'uncrackable' technology. So what should Government and the telecoms companies do to ensure criminals do not exploit s...

Transforming Care is the NHS policy which should be moving learning disabled people out of hospital units and into their own supported homes. But File on 4 asks if the growth in the supported living sector is really providing the happy, safe and secure homes it was meant to. While the NHS has struggled to get its money into the hands of the councils who provide supported living, councils have gone...

Last month, law enforcement officials in Spain said they had broken up a major match fixing ring in tennis. The Guardia Civil said 28 players competing at the lower levels of tennis were implicated. It's alleged that a group of Armenians had bribed the players to fix matches. File on 4 reveals the inside story of how players and betting gangs are seeking to corrupt the lower tiers of the sport. In...

Tom Wright investigates the normalisation of drug taking amongst Britain’s students. A recent graduate, he says Class A drugs like MDMA are bought and sold with impunity by students across the country. The student bubble, like a music festival, has become an almost decriminalised space - where the chances of getting caught are perceived to be almost non-existent. Drug dealers brazenly target stude...

Modern slavery and human trafficking in the UK are more prevalent than ever before. Police estimate tens of thousands of victims are hidden in towns and cities across the country; many kidnapped then subjected to forced labour or sexual exploitation, often under the threat of violence. But what happens to victims after they escape or have been rescued? File on 4 investigates the government system...

Uganda is a country that has seen massive growth in the number of 'orphanages' providing homes to children, despite the numbers of orphans there decreasing. It's believed 80% of children now living in orphanages have at least one living parent. The majority of the hundreds of orphanages operating in Uganda are illegal, unregistered and now are in a fight with a government trying to shut them down....

When secure training centres were launched nearly two decades ago they offered child offenders the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and get their lives back on track in a safe environment. Today there are three units in England, Medway in Rochester, Oakhill in Milton Keynes and Rainsbrook in Rugby, which provide 30 hours of education a week as part of the rehabilitation process. But the un...

Northern Ireland has some of the highest rates in Europe of pollution linked to agricultural waste – the by-product of intensive pig, poultry and cattle farming. One solution is to turn the waste into energy through green recycling schemes that attract multi-million pound subsidies. But is the system being ‘gamed’ by industry? An investigation by BBC Radio 4’s File on 4 programme has found that so...

When Miriam left the Hasidic Jewish community she had to say goodbye to her parents, siblings and children. The night she fled she knew she would be ostracised. But didn’t realise that six years on she would still be untangling herself from a series of complex financial arrangements which risk her going to prison. File on Four tells the story of this extraordinary woman which puts the financial af...

What happens when you’re 17 years old and you suddenly find yourself homeless? As a child, you would expect that social services and other authorities would find you a warm and safe place to live. What you wouldn’t expect is to be put somewhere on your own, in the cold, and at risk from serious harm. File on 4 tells the shocking story of one teenager's experience when he found himself without a ro...

It’s been called “the new narcotics”, a crime that promises high-rewards with little fear of being detected, and it is attracting criminal gangs usually associated with drugs and violence. “Waste crime”; the illegal disposal of the UK’s mountains of often hazardous rubbish, and those involved are finding new and inventive ways of cashing in. File on 4 investigates how gangs hide hundreds of tonnes...

Five years ago the UK’s biggest bioethanol plant opened in Hull as part of a £1 billion investment in renewable biofuel. Last month, the Vivergo site ceased production with the loss of more than 100 jobs. The knock-on effects have been felt by hauliers and some 900 farms across the region, which supplied the plant with wheat to be converted into fuel. The closure comes just 5 months after minister...

For many NHS patients, being referred for private treatment can sound quite appealing; you'll often be seen and treated quickly, with a more luxurious menu option to peruse in the comfort of your private room. But when it comes to the medical treatment, are patients getting the same level of care? Are private patients just as safe as those in the NHS? And when things do go wrong, how willing is th...

In the aftermath of the Winterbourne View scandal the government pledged to transfer people with learning disabilities and autism out of unsuitable hospital placements and into supported community living settings. A key milestone was to cut inpatient beds by March 2019 and to transform the lives of people who have been previously been ‘stuck’ in institutional settings. But File on 4 has been told...

In August, Jessica Hurst wrote to the media asking them to investigate how her dad’s debts of just under £12,000 became a bill of just under £73,000. Nigel Hurst killed himself a year ago after learning that bailiffs were to repossess his family home. It was the bailiff who found him. Student, Jessica, was left with a pile of debt recovery letters and bank statements which she hoped would hold the...

Last year, File on 4 investigated whether some athletes and coaches game the paralympic classification system in order to win medals. We heard allegations that some competitors had gone to astonishing lengths such as taping up their arms to make their disability appear worse. A parliamentary select committee hearing followed into the way British paralympic athletes are classified and questions wer...

More antidepressants than ever before are being prescribed to young people in Britain, despite fears that they can cause harm in some cases. What are the driving factors behind the increase? Is there any merit to claims the drugs are ineffective - and, in some cases, have serious side effects in children? And is the NHS providing the proper support to young people affected by mental illness who ar...