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Any child in England whose parents receive Universal Credit will be able to claim free school meals from September 2026, the government has said.

Parents on the credit will be eligible regardless of their income. Currently, their household must earn less than £7,400 a year to qualify.

The government says the change will make 500,000 more pupils eligible, which the prime minister said would “help families who need it most”.

Sir Keir Starmer is facing more calls to tackle child poverty by scrapping the two-child benefit cap, but told the BBC that focusing on free school meals would help boost pupil attainment.

The government said the changes to free school meals would save parents £500 a year and “lift 100,000 children out of poverty”.

Sir Keir said the measure was a “down payment” on a broader child poverty strategy, including measures that have already been announced, such as free school breakfast clubs, and those due to be published in this autumn.

Asked by the BBC why he would not first scrap the two-child benefit cap – which prevents most families from claiming means-tested benefits for any third or additional children born after April 2017 – he said “it’s really important that we focus on attainment and on the cost of living”.

“I’m the first to accept there’s no silver bullet, there’s no one thing that if you do that there are no other issues,” he said. “That’s why the [Child Poverty Taskforce] is looking at a broad range of measures.”

Education Bridget Phillipson also stressed the plan would lead to higher educational outcomes because “if you’re hungry, it’s really hard to concentrate”.

The Department for Education (DfE) has set aside £1bn to fund the change up to 2029.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ms Phillipson declined to say where that money would come from, but said schools would not have to find money for it and that details would be set out in next week’s spending review.

She also confirmed to BBC Breakfast that the government was considering scrapping the two-child benefit cap.

The government has also pledged £13m to a dozen food charities across England to “fight food poverty” and said there will be a review of standards so that school meals are healthy.

Zayn Malik, the ex-One Direction star, who received free school meals growing up, welcomed the move.

“I’m beyond elated,” he wrote in an Instagram story.

Charlotte Evans, 27, from Speke on Merseyside, said her children currently received free school meals.

“With having four kids it does help out quite a bit – not having to worry about what my child is going to eat, if they’re going to have enough,” she told the BBC.

Christine Farquharson, associate director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said “other measures – such as lifting the two-child limit – would have a lower cost per child lifted out of poverty”.

She said the expansion of free school meals would, in the long term, lead to an additional 1.7 million children getting free lunches and about 100,000 children “lifted out of poverty”.

However, she said that would not happen in the “short run” and that “today’s announcement will not see anything like 100,000 children lifted out of poverty next year”.

The Conservative party has claimed the policy would mean less money for schools’ budgets.

Schools receive pupil premium funding for children on free school meals. However, they will not receive that funding for the additional children who receive the meals as a result of the expansion in September 2026.

Neil O’Brien, shadow education minister, called it a “very nasty sting in the tail for school funding” and said the government had “provided no justification at all for this stealth cut”.

A DfE spokesman said ministers would “look over the long term at how we allocate it in a better targeted way”.

Listen to BBC education editor Branwen Jeffreys’ report on BBC Sounds

Kate Anstey, head of education policy at the Child Poverty Action Group, said the extension would cover “all children in poverty and those at risk of poverty”, with the current criteria only accounting for around two-thirds of those children.

She said she hoped it was “a sign of what’s to come” and the government would take more action.

The Association of School and College Leaders union calling it a “welcome step forward” but adding there was “much more to be done”, while the Sutton Trust charity said it was a “significant step towards taking hunger out of the classroom”.

Liberal Democrat spokesperson Munira Wilson said the government needed to go further, echoing calls from charities to abolish the two-child benefit cap in next week’s spending review.

The government is expected to announce its decision on the cap in the autumn, when it publishes its child poverty strategy.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir of “causing confusion” over the policy during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.

The total number of children registered for free school meals in England is about 2.2 million, or 25.7% of the total pupil population, according to the latest data.

Families in England need to meet certain criteria for their children to be eligible.

That can include receiving Universal Credit but, until the changes are implemented next September, parents also must have a household income of less than £7,400 a year, after tax.

Parents have to apply for their children to receive them and eligible children are not automatically enrolled.

In February, MPs on the cross-party education committee called for that to change.

They said tens of thousands of eligible children were missing out on free school meals because their parents were not claiming them – often because of language barriers or difficulty with the administrative process.

Ms Phillipson told the BBC there were no plans to introduce automatic enrolment.

Children’s eligibility for free school meals varies across the UK.

All primary school children in London and in Wales can access free meals.

In Scotland, all children in the first five years of primary school are eligible, as well as all children from families receiving the Scottish Child Payment benefit.

Parents in Northern Ireland can apply if they receive certain benefits and are below an income threshold which is approximately double the current England level, at £15,000.

Additional reporting by Branwen Jeffreys, Hope Rhodes and Rahib Khan.

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Parents are demanding answers over how a paedophile was able to abuse potentially dozens of disabled and special educational needs children while working as a teaching assistant.

Daniel Clarke may have targeted “well over 81” vulnerable young people over a decade, according to detectives overseeing a major West Midlands Police investigation.

The 29-year-old was jailed last month for offences against six children, but officers believe he could be one of the most prolific sex offenders of recent times.

The BBC can now reveal he held key safeguarding responsibilities at two council-run schools as recently as September 2023, where bosses said they acted as soon as concerns came to light.

In February, Clarke pleaded guilty to offences including making indecent photographs of a child, assaulting children by touching, and inciting children to engage in sexual activity with no penetration.

The charges included Clarke’s work, separately, as a personal assistant to several children, but he had also been responsible for online safety at Forest Oak and Merstone schools before he was arrested in October 2024.

He is thought to have begun working with the local authority-run special schools as a teaching assistant in 2016.

Both of them are rated outstanding by Ofsted and are separate but share facilities and an executive head teacher.

The BBC has spoken to multiple people who claim concerns were raised by staff and parents at Forest Oak about Clarke at least three months before he was arrested.

“He should not have continued working at that school but he did, which tells you they didn’t do anything,” one anonymous mother said.

“If they had any inkling whatsoever that man should have been suspended pending an investigation.”

A sentencing hearing was told Clarke had made a list of his victims, some of which dated back to 2016.

The local authority told the BBC that as soon as it was made aware of concerns about Clarke, it immediately contacted police and this led to his October arrest.

However, it has refused to reveal when concerns were first raised with the school.

Nor has it said if an internal investigation will be carried out to look at how the case was handled.

Saj Golby, who runs the North Solihull Additional Needs Support Group, told the BBC she had been in direct contact with the families of at least a dozen of Clarke’s potential victims.

“The families that are approaching us are so angry and so hurt,” she said. “He was in a position of trust and that has been broken.

“Something horrific was happening at a school on our doorsteps and families are saying ‘we raised concerns’ but they were ignored.

“Someone needs to be held accountable.”

Ms Golby founded the group in 2016 because she believed there was not enough support for parents of children with additional needs.

Her community campaigning led to her being selected as a baton bearer for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

But about the same time, the 43-year-old said she was having problems with her own children at Forest Oak, because of what she called unrelated safeguarding concerns.

She has now launched a petition, backed by cross-party councillors and a local MP, calling for families of young people who raise safeguarding issues to be more effectively supported.

It is also demanding more accountability when things go wrong, like in the case of Daniel Clarke.

“It paints a picture of systemic failure,” Ms Golby said.

“This needs investigating to find out why such a horrific man got away with what he did for such a long time when concerns were raised.”

Hazel Dawkins, a Labour representative on Solihull Council, has a daughter who attends Merstone.

Her child did not have contact with Clarke, but the mother said the case had brought her to tears due to the timespan of the offending and the fact some victims could be non-verbal.

“It’s horrific,” she said. “I can’t even bear to think what these parents are going through.”

Dawkins said the school and the council needed to “accept responsibility and seek to reassure parents”.

She called for an inquiry and strengthened policies to keep children safe.

The local politician has also been representing parents with unrelated concerns about bullying at the only other special school in the area, and claimed an “overhaul” was needed in Solihull’s overall provision.

“We’re seeing it over and over again with children being constantly failed,” she said.

Clarke is currently serving a prison sentence of seven years and six months after pleading guilty to sexual offences, although the attorney general’s office is reviewing that after claims it is too lenient.

He met his victims while working across the two schools, and through a role with a charity that organised activities for children with additional needs.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard the mother of one victim had paid Clarke £3,500 for work as a personal assistant for her child, but had been left feeling like she had been “paying him to abuse her son”.

After Clarke’s arrest in October, police were said to have “moved extremely quickly, almost with unprecedented speed” to put the offender behind bars.

The court heard he is almost certain to face further charges, possibly against more than 81 victims.

A “complex and sensitive investigation” is understood to be continuing, with detectives in the process of “slowly and carefully” contacting the parents of young people Clarke might have had contact with.

But the court was told it was likely to be at least a year before further charges are brought and it could be 2027 before any potential trial begins.

Some parents believe this means more information should be shared with them now, but the school has declined to release any details due to the live investigation.

“They are keeping everything very quiet,” said a second anonymous mother.

“The letters they have sent out to parents don’t go into much explanation at all.”

Alfie Ford, a former Forest Oak pupil, was not targeted by Clarke but said he was “shocked, disappointed and angry” as he previously interacted with the teaching assistant most days.

The 19-year-old, who is now a town councillor and disability awareness campaigner, left the school in 2023.

He also believes bosses should be sharing more information with former parents and pupils about Clarke following his conviction.

“He would have known nearly every child,” Mr Ford said. “You would never have known he was that sort of person.

“You would think he was there for you and he would care for you. I wonder if that may have been a trick of his.”

The former student recalled Clarke wearing tracksuits to work and a school emblazoned jacket, and said he appeared a normal member of staff.

Mr Ford suggested the teaching assistant had taken advantage of his knowledge of autism to “betray the trust” of pupils, and said the school had questions to answer.

“There are so many ways this should have been stopped from happening,” he added. “[It] needs to be looked at.”

Solihull Council’s efforts to keep children safe have been under widespread scrutiny in recent years following a number of high profile incidents, including the murder of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes in 2020.

But Multiple Ofsted reports, including one released this month, have suggested children’s services are improving from a previous rating of inadequate.

A Solihull Council spokesperson said: “We take the safeguarding of children with the utmost seriousness.

“Our thoughts go out to all those affected by the horrific actions of Clarke and we are pleased that he is now behind bars, unable to prey on further potential victims.

“As soon as the council was made aware of concerns about Clarke, we immediately took action to investigate the allegations, which involved contacting the police and this led to his arrest.

“We understand that in difficult circumstances such as this, people want to know more.

“However, West Midlands Police stated that information cannot be disclosed due to the complex nature of their investigation, which remains ongoing.”

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, information and support can be found at the BBC’s Action Line.

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Teachers in England can use artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up marking and write letters home to parents, new government guidance says.

Training materials being distributed to schools, first seen exclusively by the BBC, say teachers can use the technology to “help automate routine tasks” and focus instead on “quality face-to-face time”.

Teachers should be transparent about their use of AI and always check its results, the Department for Education (DfE) said.

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said it could “free up time for face-to-face teaching” but there were still “big issues” to be resolved.

BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, said it was an “important step forward” but teachers would “want clarity on exactly how they should be telling… parents where they’ve used AI”.

Teachers and pupils have already been experimenting with AI, and the DfE has previously supported its use among teachers.

However, this is the first time it has produced training materials and guidance for schools outlining how they should and should not use it.

The DfE says AI should only be used for “low-stakes” marking such as quizzes or homework, and teachers must check its results.

They also give teachers permission to use AI to write “routine” letters to parents.

One section demonstrates how it could be used to generate a letter about a head lice outbreak, for example.

Emma Darcy, a secondary school leader who works as a consultant to support other schools with AI and digital strategy, said teachers had “almost a moral responsibility” to learn how to use it because pupils were already doing so “in great depth”.

“If we’re not using these tools ourselves as educators, we’re not going to be able to confidently support our young people with using them,” she said.

But she warned that the opportunities were accompanied by risks such as “potential data breaches” and marking errors.

“AI can come up with made-up quotes, facts [and] information,” she said. “You have to make sure that you don’t outsource whatever you’re doing fully to AI.”

The DfE guidance says schools should have clear policies on AI, including when teachers and pupils can and cannot use it, and that manual checks are the best way to spot whether students are using it to cheat.

It also says only approved tools should be used and pupils should be taught to recognise deepfakes and other misinformation.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the guidance aimed to “cut workloads”.

“We’re putting cutting-edge AI tools into the hands of our brilliant teachers to enhance how our children learn and develop – freeing teachers from paperwork so they can focus on what parents and pupils need most: inspiring teaching and personalised support,” she said.

Pepe Di’Iasio, ASCL general secretary, said many schools and colleges were already “safely and effectively using AI” and it had the potential to ease heavy staff workloads and as a result, help recruitment and retention challenges.

“However, there are some big issues,” he added. “Budgets are extremely tight because of the huge financial pressures on the education sector and realising the potential benefits of AI requires investment.”

Research from BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, at the end of last year suggested that most teachers were not using AI, and there was a worry among those who were about telling their school.

But Julia Adamson, its managing director for education, said the guidance “feels like an important step forward”.

She added: “Teachers will want clarity on exactly how they should be telling those parents where they’ve used AI, for example in writing emails, to avoid additional pressures and reporting burdens.”

The Scottish and Welsh governments have both said AI can support with tasks such as marking, as long as it is used professionally and responsibly.

And in Northern Ireland, last week education minister Paul Givan announced that a study by Oxford Brookes University would evaluate how AI could improve education outcomes for some pupils.

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The apps use artificial intelligence to create fake nude images of people without their consent.

A city primary school in an area of social deprivation is focusing on pupils’ numeracy and literacy.

Parents are being encouraged to ditch their cars at a primary school in Leamington Spa.

The head says some parents thought he was influenced by transgender activists.

Almost 3,300 children explore career options in science, technology, engineering, arts and maths.

Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.

The UK’s statutory parental leave system is “one of the worst in the developed world” and has “fundamental flaws”, a group of cross-party MPs has said.

A report published today by the Women and Equalities Committee said paternity leave rules “entrench outdated gender stereotypes”.

It added that “bold” action is needed, but warned any changes would require significant investment.

A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said the government is carrying out a review to see how it best can support working families.

Introduced in 2003, statutory paternity leave allows most new fathers and second parents in the UK to take up to two weeks off work.

It applies to all partners, regardless of gender, after the birth, surrogacy or adoption of a baby.

Those eligible receive £187.18 a week or 90% of their average earnings, whichever is lower.

This works out as less than 50% of the National Living Wage and fathers are ineligible for statutory paternity leave if they are self-employed or earn less than £123 a week.

The report says this is “completely out of kilter with the cost of living” and suggests the government should consider increasing paternity pay to 90% or more and paternity leave to six weeks in a phased approach.

It recommends both aspects should be done during this Parliament.

Highlighting how paternity leave has not changed noticeably since its introduction more than two decades ago, the report says: “We now have one of the worst statutory leave offers for fathers and other parents in the developed world.”

In Spain, new dads can take 16 weeks off work at full pay.

New rules introduced in France in 2021 mean working dads can now spend 28 days at home while being paid.

Families in Sweden are entitled to 480 days of paid parental leave, with 90 days reserved for fathers.

As part of Your Voice, Your BBC News we are covering the stories that matter most to you and several dads have been in touch about paternity leave.

James Yeates, from Haverhill, Suffolk, says it was “horrible” having to return to work just two weeks after his son, Luca, was born in September 2024.

Although he says the birth of his son was “the happiest moment of my life”, he soon felt as though he was leaving his partner “in the lurch”.

“There would be times when my partner was struggling and I’d have to leave to go to work,” he said.

“I felt like I was letting her down and letting my son down.”

James works for the NHS, who topped up his statutory paternity pay to 100% of his usual salary, but feels as though he was prevented from being “a more present parent”.

Listen to BBC reporter Kristian Johnson’s report on BBC Sounds

The WEC report also looked at shared parental leave, which was introduced in 2014 and allows parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay after the birth or adoption of a child.

But the review found many families considered it “unnecessarily complex” and “burdensome”.

It is used in fewer than 2% of all births and a government review from 2023 suggests almost half (45%) of all dads were not even aware shared parental leave was an option.

The report has been released on the eve of the world’s first dad strike.

Hundreds of fathers are expected to picket outside the Department for Business and Trade in London on Wednesday to call for an overhaul of the UK’s parental leave policies.

New research by The Dad Shift and Shaun Davies MP suggests that just 3% of money spent on parental leave in the UK supports fathers and non-birthing parents.

Information provided by employers to HMRC shows that £3.3bn was spent on statutory maternity pay in 2023/24.

Across the same period, £69m was spent on paternity pay and £34.4m statutory shared parental pay.

George Gabriel, co-founder of the Dad Shift, said paternity leave laws mean dads often have to go back to work before their two-week paternity leave ends.

“The pie is small and the crumbs left for dads and non-birthing parents are honestly pretty pitiful,” he said.

Kathy Jones, chief executive of the Fatherhood Institute, said she welcomed many of the findings of the report, but said “families shouldn’t have to wait until the next Parliament for this to come in”.

The government said its forthcoming review, which is due before mid-July, would look at all current parental leave entitlements.

A spokesperson added it is already in the process of ensuring dads no longer need to be employed for 26 weeks to be entitled to paternity leave.

“This government is committed to making sure parents receive the best possible support to balance their work and home lives,” they said.

Additional reporting from George Walker.

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A university’s decision to give its vice chancellor a 13% pay rise before cutting dozens of jobs has been criticised by a trade union.

Bangor University’s annual report for 2023/24 showed vice chancellor Edmund Burke received a pay rise of more than £30,000.

Dyfrig Jones, the UCU union’s vice president and a senior lecturer at the university said the increase was “shocking and disappointing”.

Bangor University said “the current salary… reflects not only the full responsibilities of the role but also market benchmarking against peers leading similarly complex institutions”.

The annual report showed Mr Burke received a salary of £273,000 compared to the previous year where he was paid £222,000 for 11 months’ work.

Mr Jones said: “It hurts and it feels like another blow to our staff who have already been through such a difficult period.”

The union representative said he would “welcome” the vice-Chancellor volunteering to repay some of his salary.

“If he were to have rejected the pay rise, that could have saved one or two jobs,” said Mr Jones.

Marian Wyn Jones, chairwoman of the university’s council, warned in its annual report there are “financial challenges facing the university and the sector” and said they “face unprecedented challenges due to historically static tuition fees for home undergraduate students which are set by the government, persistent inflationary pressures, and policy changes on international student visas”.

In February, the university said it needed to cut 200 jobs to make financial savings.

Last month, Professor Burke sent an email to staff saying the university had made “good progress” in making savings through “strict controls” and “voluntary severance and retirements”.

The number of jobs to be cut had therefore been revised down to 78.

The UCU union was unhappy that, during financial difficulties, some senior staff were rewarded financially, with the annual report document demonstrating the number of employees growing from 18 to 26 in a year.

“We are talking about substantial sums of money, which are enough to keep a great many of those who are facing losing their jobs in employment,” said Mr Jones.

He said the union wanted to see fewer jobs with “very high salaries” to “protect jobs which command a lower salary, but which, in my opinion, are far more important for the university”.

Bangor University said in a statement: “The increase reflects a combination of factors, including the appointment or promotion to leadership roles where salaries are benchmarked against national and standards.

“Our core mission continues, which is to provide a high standard of education and deliver research of the highest quality.

“We are committed to transparency and accountability across all our work, including salaries, the salary of the vice chancellor and Executive Board which is paid by the Remuneration Committee.

“Our leadership team concentrates on using resources responsibly to support our mission and future stability.”

A spokesperson also said the vice chancellor had not received a pay rise in the current year.

A number of departments have come under threat as the university strives to cut 69 further jobs.

Cardiff UCU says its members have reported suicidal thoughts and high levels of anxiety amid cuts.

The dispute is over the University of Lincoln’s proposals to cut up to 285 staff.

The funding, donated by Northern Ireland’s six medallists from the Paris Olympics, will go towards new equipment.

A University of Surrey study found teenagers find sports clubs and healthy food options expensive.

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Play experts want to ban “no ball games” signs and protect playtime during school breaks, to reduce the time children spend on screens.

They are being forced “indoors on to digital devices”, according to the Raising the Nation Play Commission, whose year-long inquiry calls for an end to “anti-play culture”.

It warns outdoor play in England has declined by 50% in a generation because of streets dominated by traffic, fear about crime and “public spaces where young people are not welcome”.

The government says it is working with experts to develop a framework to improve access to activities outside of school.

The report is calling for a national Play Strategy for England and has made a number of recommendations including:

Chair of the commission, Paul Lindley, says in England “we’ve made it incredibly hard for children to play”.

“Creating truly playful communities is not just about better street design, traffic management, and reduced crime, but also about a reversal of the growing culture of intolerance towards children playing.”

In London, there are more than 7,000 signs limiting play for more than half a million children, according to the report.

Some councils are beginning to remove signs amid concerns that children are exercising less.

For Samantha and her four-year-old son Chester, who live in Blackpool, having a playground far away from traffic is vital.

“It’s free,” she says and it’s somewhere her son can play without having to worry “about someone coming to tell him he can’t”.

“A lot of children are growing up and don’t have the opportunity to be able to go to other places or travel, so having somewhere close to home, that is free, is so important.”

More than 400 playgrounds closed in England from 2012 to 2022 and annual park budgets have fallen, the report found.

Blackpool Better Start, which helps families with young children like Chester, has been working to transform the city’s less used parks and green spaces over the last ten years.

“It is so important for families to have safe spaces to play. Families identify with the park. They feel a sense of ownership and they feel like it belongs to them,” director Clare Law explains.

And there are calls for changes in schools too.

In 1995, break times in schools were around 23 minutes longer for young children than they are now, the report found.

The commission wants to see playtime during breaks and lunchtime ringfenced.

Students at St Ambrose Catholic Academy in Liverpool are guaranteed an hour’s quality play every day.

Headteacher Tracy Moorcroft says it is a massive part of the school day.

“If they are building, we see them as future architects, if they’re in the kitchen, could they be the next future chef? We try to link their play with aspirations for later in life.”

But Ms Moorcroft is less convinced about the idea of having “always-active uniforms” which have already been introduced in some schools.

She says the school has “very high standards” for the uniform, as the children are being prepared for life beyond the primary school.

They get to wear their PE kit some days and wear wellies and coats so they can go outside regardless of the weather.

General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, Pepe Di’Iasio agrees that playtime has been squeezed “by the drive to improve academic outcomes”, but cautioned against an “overly prescriptive approach to play” as this may impact on other areas of the curriculum.

Both Wales and Scotland have already made it a legal requirement for local authorities to ensure enough opportunities for children to play.

The commission in England is calling for a national play strategy with an annual budget of £125m, led by a minister with a responsibility for play.

Baroness Anne Longfield from the Centre for Young Lives think tank, who worked on the report, said it should provide a “blueprint for how we can get children playing again and also tackle the scourge of addictive doom-scrolling”.

A government spokesperson said its Plan for Change was “setting young people up to achieve and thrive – both inside and outside the classroom”, and that it is investing in grassroots sports facilities and in a programme to help turn “grey school spaces green”.

“From July, new rules under the Online Safety Act will require social media platforms to protect children in the UK from seeing harmful content online,” the spokesperson added.

Additional reporting by Hayley Clarke and Rahib Khan

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Avoid relying on food pouches for everyday meals, says NHS website for first time.

Baby Basics is holding its first boutique sale this weekend to turn donated items into cash.

The Market Rasen Baby Bank says the number of users has risen by 300% in the past six months.

Twelve Teesside mums take part in a campaign to encourage higher breastfeeding rates in the area.

Libby Gower set up Joey’s Family Food in Dorchester 10 years ago after the birth of her daughter.

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A woman who purchased weight-loss jab Mounjaro online says she is now considering coming off the drug, as she believe it is causing her to lose hair. Rebecca Quarmby lost two stone (12.7kg) on a Slimming World programme, but decided to opt for the jab to lose further weight.

She told the BBC’s Natalie Bell that she doesn’t believe her GP would have prescribed the jab, had she approached them.

Hair loss is listed as a “common” side effect, according to Mounjaro’s patient information leaflet.

There are also other concerns related to the jab, with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency warning the drug could make contraceptive pills less likely to work.

Read more on this story here.

The use pictures or music to evoke a response in people living with dementia can help start a conversation with loved ones and carers.

Clive Myrie spends a day inside the Royal Free Hospital to see how the NHS is coping after intense, annual winter pressures.

Twelve-year-old Alice discovered a love for football during a medication shortage.

A number of senators grilled the controversial nominee over his views on vaccines and abortion.

Michael Stevenson is staying in a nursing home while attempts are made to find him a care package.

Six-time Olympic cycling champion Chris Hoy calls for more openness on health matters

The surgical feat was performed on a New York medic who says she got her ‘life back’ because of the procedure.

The celebrity chef announced he was diagnosed with the mental health condition earlier this year.

The parents of a toddler waiting for a liver and bowel transplant are pleading with parents to have the conversation about what they would do in the same situation.

The Princess of Wales has said her focus for now was to remain “cancer free”.

Former footballer Graeme Souness joins Isla Grist to discuss their work fighting the rare skin condition epidermolysis bullosa (EB).

Aid worker explains how his career helped him come to terms with his own terminal cancer diagnosis.

A mother-of-three shared her story with Dame Deborah’s mother Heather on BBC Breakfast.

Watch: A clip from Michael Mosley’s last recording at the Hay Festival in May

A dermatologist warns sunbed users they are “paying” to expose themselves to cancer risks.

Marjorie Taylor Greene challenged the US’ former top doctor, who also got emotional during his testimony.

Relatives and victims of the infected blood scandal tell BBC Breakfast how they feel about the inquiry’s findings.

Su Gorman, the wife of Steve Dymond, gives evidence at the Infected Blood Inquiry.

Gill Castle was left with irreparable damages from the traumatic birth of her son.

A special organ-sharing scheme has, against the odds, found a new kidney for five-year-old Destiny-Rae.

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When Amanda and Nick learnt their son had a life-limiting condition, they had no-one in the same situation to turn to.

Jack is only 11 months old but is one of only 16 children in the world with a genetic condition that is so rare it doesn’t have a name.

“We are going to outlive our child, and knowing that his brothers and his sister may one day have to say goodbye to him… I can’t even begin to explain how difficult that is to process each day,” said Amanda.

But the mum said finding a woman in Georgia, USA, whose daughter had the same condition as Jack had been an source of “strength” for them, but added it was “very bittersweet” because unfortunately her daughter did pass away.

Edited by Greg Davies.

Jules Peters says the outpouring of love for her husband has been “phenomenal” ahead of his funeral.

Guto Bell’s tearful speech at the Urdd Eisteddfod is shared more than a million times on social media.

The RNLI is urging people to check the tides before heading out for a coastal walk.

American Peter Macy is at the Urdd Eisteddfod to discover his heritage, with the help of a Welsh host.

Headsets are being developed so students can hear a victim tell their story in their own words.

Chris Hughes says his daughter’s viral pet hamster Popcorn helped set him up with his future wife.

Pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder is treated by the contraceptive pill – putting some women in a dilemma.

Parking charges rise and car parks could close early in a bid to tackle traffic at a popular beach.

Margaret Lee, 87, was killed in a head-on crash after Matthew Parrott overtook a bus.

The Snowdonia Space Centre aims to boost north Wales’ economy and inspire future Welsh astronauts.

Pupil Lanre says he used to eat lunch alone but now he’s “got more friends and I engage in sports”.

Jake Devline-Reed says it will provide a “safe space” for those that need it.

Dale Grove is given a suspended sentence for killing another man in the crash.

The dust devil swept across a beach as people saw their belongings thrown into the air.

BBC News spoke to young party members at the Welsh Conservative conference in Denbighshire.

The reptile, believed to be an adder, was seen enjoying the surf in the hot weather.

Different colours of glitter could allow experts to track different families of water voles.

Jamie Roberts says he is “excited” to become a doctor in hospitals across south Wales.

Nathan Osman’s body was discovered the following morning at the foot of a remote cliff.

A Ring doorbell captured the moment a murderer broke into a 69-year-old grandmother’s house.

Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved.  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.