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There are 72,000 children in care in England, and they face far worse life chances than their peers. They face a much higher risk of homelessness, teenage pregnancy and unemployment. And just 6% of young people with experience of the care system will attend university, compared with almost 50% in the general population.

To address this, the government announced a new care leaver covenant last week, aimed at easing the path into independent adulthood. While it acknowledges that universities already do a lot to support care leavers, it’s asking that they step up their efforts. Several universities have since signed up to the covenant.

There has been a “profoundly concerning” rise in early deaths from accidents, suicide, alcohol misuse, smoking, cancer and drug addiction in the north of England, deepening the north-south divide, research has found.

Socioeconomic deprivation has led to a particularly sharp rise in deaths among 25 to 44-year-olds , according to new data analysis from Manchester university.

The European Union is pressing ahead with plans for a no-deal Brexit, amid uncertainty about when high-level negotiations will resume.

With 149 days until Brexit day, time is running out to secure a deal that the British government wants to nail down this autumn, to allow time for the agreement to gain assent from parliament and the European parliament.

Sadiq Khan has sent a message to the EU that he believes Labour will be forced to oppose the “bad” Brexit deal that is emerging from their negotiations with Theresa May.

The mayor of London’s comments come ahead of his meeting this week with the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, in which Khan will emphasise the need for far closer economic ties.

Children’s services from Sure Start to schools and NHS mental health are at breaking point, according to a coalition of 120 organisations that have called on the chancellor to invest in young people in the budget next week.

Local authorities backed the call, saying council-run children’s services were fast approaching a tipping point as they struggled to maintain services in the face of a funding gap estimated to reach £3bn by 2025.

A human rights organisation is taking the national provider of legal aid to court because it is refusing to help rough sleepers challenge councils over the use of potentially unlawful powers to move them on.

Liberty has launched the legal challenge against the Legal Aid Agency because they will not offer assistance to rough sleepers and other local residents who cannot afford to pay lawyers if they want to challenge local authorities’ use of public space protection orders (PSPOs).

An extra £1.67bn is to be paid to tens of thousands of disabled benefit claimants after years of underpayments, the government has revealed.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was criticised for its handling of the employment and support allowance (ESA) after revealing that an estimated 180,000 recipients were due arrears payments totalling £970m.

Police have said there could be a spike in hate crime as wrangles over Brexit continue before the UK’s planned departure from the EU in March.

The vote to leave the EU in June 2016 led to a large rise in hate incidents on the streets and online.

One in three young people is suffering from mental troubles such as depression, negative feelings or inability to focus, a survey of more than 5,500 British teenagers has found.

The findings suggest that more school-age children than previously thought are struggling with their mental and emotional wellbeing, including problems sleeping properly.

Of the 5,555 people aged between 13 and 15 from across the UK who answered the charity Action for Children’s survey, 1,840 were found to have an issue.

Labour is to try to force the government to publish analysis into the impact of universal credit on claimants’ incomes, amid increasing signs that ministers are delaying the controversial programme following a backlash from MPs.