File on 4 Investigates

Is demand for long term nursing about to tip NHS finances over the edge? Under the system of "Continuing Healthcare" people with complex medical needs can claim the costs of nursing and medical help to keep them out of hospital. But the system has become mired in controversy with many people claiming they've been denied funding to which they are entitled. Now there's a deluge of backdated claims a...

The UK generates nearly 300 million tonnes of waste every year. That's rich pickings for criminals who illegally dump what we don't want, damaging the environment and threatening our health. The black market in rubbish is said to be worth a billion pounds. With such huge sums at stake there's concern that organised crime is increasing its grip on the sector. Allan Urry examines the efforts of Brit...

Recent high-profile collapses of high street names such as Comet, Phones4U and other companies have left thousands of people out of work and have cost the taxpayer millions in statutory redundancy payments and unpaid taxes. This week File on 4 goes behind the headlines to examine the role of the companies' private equity backers. Were these failed businesses which were bound to have to close? Or m...

As inquiries into child abuse in Rotherham continue, File on 4 investigates claims of a hidden problem of sexual abuse within Britain's Asian communities. While the victims of recent grooming scandals have mostly been white girls, campaigners say Asian boys and girls have also been subjected to abuse over many years. Male and female survivors tell Manveen Rana there's a powerful culture of denial...

Ebola is now regarded as an international threat to peace and security, according to the World Health Organisation. Yet, when the WHO was first warned of an unprecedented outbreak, the organisation said it was "still relatively small." Now the UK has asked for volunteers to travel to West Africa to try to bring Ebola under control. Thousands of American troops are also flying out to the region. Bu...

In the biggest outsourcing to date, the NHS in England has announced it is tendering a huge £700 million contract for providing NHS cancer care in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, along with another £500million for end of life care in the region. Officials say it will streamline services and provide better treatment while critics say it's the most reckless privatisation yet. BBC Health Editor Hug...

The nature of crime is changing, with much of it now happening online, sparking growing concern that official figures fail to account for potentially millions of fraud offences. Experts say frauds involving plastic debit and credit cards are among the crimes left out of the data. So just how reliable - and useful - are the statistics? At the same time, police economic crime units, which investigat...

How well are Britain's borders patrolled and defended at a time when the authorities are battling to stem the flow of illegal immigrants coming across the Channel and tightening national security because of fears of a terrorist attack by extremists returning from fighting in Syria and Iraq? Allan Urry assesses the vulnerability of our ports, struggling with cuts to Border Force personnel and probl...

Is a new scandal about to engulf the UK's banking industry? Was LIBOR just the tip of the iceberg? Regulators around the world are looking at the way important financial benchmarks have been calculated. These are used to set the value of pension funds, investments and international contracts worth billions of pounds. Financial regulators in the UK, across Europe and in the US are investigating whe...

Knowl View special school for boys has become infamous as the haunt of Cyril Smith. Prosecutors now say 'Mr Rochdale' should have been charged with abuse of boys while he was alive. But he was not the only one. In the first of a new series, former pupils in the 1970s, 80s and 90s tell File on 4 how a web of abusers, including local paedophiles and other pupils preyed on boys as young as eight whil...

Every year more than 1,500 UK children are diagnosed with cancer. For some the outlook is good but for those struck down by one of the rarer cancers, the prognosis can be a bleak one. Two hundred and fifty children die each year from the disease. Parents have told File on 4 there is a worrying lack of research into new drugs for childhood cancers, with youngsters sometimes offered treatments which...

Last month, in the Queen's Speech, the Government announced a series of measures to support small businesses -- including proposals to deal with the problem of late payment of bills by larger companies. It follows a long history of horror stories about major high street names leaving suppliers and sub-contractors out of pocket because of delays in settling accounts. Figures produced by the Departm...

In many parts of the world, charities are trying to deliver much-needed aid to desperate people living in areas controlled by militant groups. What do they do when counter-terrorism laws ban them from contact with those de facto authorities? Risk of prosecution has now created a climate of fear in many aid agencies - and the UN wants counter-terrorism policies redrawn to ensure lives can be saved...

On the day a parliamentary committee is due to take evidence about the Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre, Simon Cox investigates claims of sexual abuse and poor health care for the women held there. Campaigners and detainees tell File on 4 about "a culture of disbelief" which they say exists among healthcare staff and which they claim is putting women at risk. Serco - the company that runs th...

The recent furore over halal meat has focused attention on how our meat is killed and processed. But beyond the ethical and religious debate over halal, are there bigger concerns about how abattoirs are regulated and policed? Companies have been fined for failing to remove body parts associated with the human form of mad cow disease, BSE. Now there are plans to shake-up the inspection process whic...

More than 15 years ago, the Good Friday Agreement came into force - bringing an end to three decades of violence in Northern Ireland. At the heart of the peace process is a commitment to bring truth and justice to the bereaved. But many families say they're still waiting. The peace process also promised to bring Protestants and Catholics closer together. But, in some communities still divided by p...

With fees costing as much as £9,000 a year, universities must operate in an increasingly cut-throat market place. At a time when budgets in some institutions are being stretched, students are demanding more for their money. Against a backdrop of rising complaints, the new Competition and Markets authority is considering whether to launch an investigation. So are students getting what they pay for?...

GPs are under pressure to do more. The Government wants surgeries to open seven days a week and the Labour Party say they'll ensure people get appointments within 48 hours. But, at the same time, there are warnings that the family doctor service in England is on the brink of extinction because of a "perfect storm" of funding cuts and growing demand. Jenny Cuffe meets two doctors - one in rural Yor...

How effective is the system for investigating miscarriages of justice in England and Wales? Critics say the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the body charged with examining potential wrongful convictions, lacks teeth and needs to be thoroughly reformed. Are they right? Allan Urry examines cases in which prisoners, campaigners and lawyers say the CCRC doesn't do enough for those who continue to pr...

The Government has introduced a draft Modern Slavery Bill which is aimed at making it simpler to prosecute human traffickers and which will bring in life sentences for such offences. But who are the victims of modern day slavery in the UK and how organised are the gangs who prey upon them? While much concern has focused on people trafficked into the country, Jane Deith reveals how the most vulnera...

With local authority elections due in May, Allan Urry investigates claims of organised vote rigging. Earlier this year, the Electoral Commission identified 16 areas in England with wards that are at particular risk of electoral fraud. File on 4 visits some of those towns and cities and hears first hand evidence of intimidation and the widespread abuse of postal votes - including allegations that s...

The UK is said to have more accountants than almost any other nation on earth. Thanks to reforms in the way the public sector is run, the "Big Four" accountancy firms and the accountancy profession generally has become more powerful and more influential than ever before. But what do these accountants actually do and what does it mean for taxpayers? To find out, Simon Cox meets the residents of Bir...

Each year the number of deaths in every hospital in England is recorded and compared with national averages for the range of patients and conditions treated. The results are published by a company called Dr Foster in The Hospital Guide. The Guide has a solid reputation. Its findings are studied and used by leaders of the NHS. Dr Foster's statistical expert says that high mortality statistics shoul...

Probation staff are currently being told where they will be working under a radical reform of the service. The government is transferring the management of low and medium risk offenders to private companies and high risk cases will be handled by a national probation service. The Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, says the reforms are necessary to cut reoffending rates and save money which will be...

Flights grounded. Trains cancelled. Roads flooded. It's becoming a familiar story every winter as Britain's transport systems are battered by the weather. While rainfall this winter has been unusually high, has some of the disruption that we've seen been caused by a lack of strategic planning and routine maintenance? Should a flooded river have been able to knock out power supplies at Gatwick, cat...