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Stoke-on-Trent City Council is set to approve an extra £7m for adult social care services to help suppliers meet rising costs.

Care homes and providers – some of whom challenged the previous settlement at the High Court – have told the authority increases in National Insurance and the National Living Wage have pushed their costs up.

The council's previously suggested fee rises of 2-4% would typically increase to 5-7% under the revised plans for the coming year.

The proposal will be discussed by the authority's cabinet on 29 April.

In January, the High Court ordered the council to reconsider its 1.4% fee rise for the 2024-25 financial year, after Staffordshire Care Association challenged how the decision was reached.

Although the rise was later confirmed, council officers warned that "members should read this judgement in full" before considering this year's fees.

Sustainable care market

In a consultation in December and January, providers from different sectors told the council that staffing costs would rise by up to 10% because of changes announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in October's budget.

The Labour-run authority has assessed those rises, along with general inflationary pressures, to come up with new rates for firms providing residential and at-home care.

Despite the council's own financial challenges, cabinet members have been warned they have to follow government guidance and maintain a "sustainable" care market.

The authority's budget for this year had initially allowed for a planned increase of about £6m for social care.

The report to councillors said that while an additional £1.1m would be provided centrally, the service would have to "actively work to reduce expenditure and mitigate the additional costs over the course of the financial year".

Last Thursday's Shropshire Council election was as fascinating as it was unpredictable.

Nobody I spoke with before the election, including national party leader Nigel Farage, expected Reform UK to win as many seats as they did in the county.

On the other hand, though we were almost certain the Conservatives would lose control at this election, their bone-crunching fall from grace took many by surprise.

Friday was a day of recounts, a Reform surge and random chance as the Liberal Democrats took charge, with one seat even decided through the electoral equivalent of drawing lots.

Here is the tale of Shropshire's election in numbers.

34 votes gave the Lib Dems a majority

Some of the seats being contested were won by incredibly thin margins.

In fact, eight of the 74 seats on offer were decided by fewer than 20 votes each.

The Liberal Democrats won five seats with a grand total of just 34 votes, including Whitchurch South (9), The Strettons (1), St Oswald (8), and Cheswardine (15).

Bridgnorth South and Alveley was finally won by the Lib Dems following three recounts.

Colin Taylor and Reform UK's Karen Webb-James each received 508 votes, but there could be only one winner.

The vote was decided by two ballot papers being put back into a ballot box and one randomly taken out. Mr Taylor won the contest and took the seat by an extra vote.

The five narrowly-won Lib Dem seats gave the group their majority and overall control of the council.

Tory support down 60%

All six Conservatives standing for re-election who were part of the council's previous leadership team, or cabinet, lost their seats.

Former deputy leader Ian Nellins, who was the face of unpopular decisions like the £56 garden waste charge and the now-cancelled tip booking system, came third in Market Drayton North with 199 votes, behind Reform UK and the Lib Dems.

The councillor in charge of finance, Gwilym Butler, who oversaw cuts totalling more than £100m in the last few years, also lost his seat in Cleobury Mortimer.

He said he was disappointed not to have been re-elected after years of hard work, but proud to have avoided bankruptcy for the authority.

The councillor who championed the controversial northern Shrewsbury bypass, the North West Relief Road, lost Burnell to the Lib Dems.

Four other Cabinet members, including leader Lezley Picton, did not stand for re-election.

England's 'single biggest election win'

Seasoned councillor Heather Kidd won the largest vote of any councillor up for election in England last Thursday, according to the Liberal Democrats.

Kidd, who will officially become the new council leader later this month, took 71% of the vote in Chirbury and Worthen.

In 2021 she received 84%.

Fellow party councillor Ruth Houghton, who won Bishop's Castle, was a close second with 70%.

From 97 votes to 27,732

Reform UK's success at last week's election cannot be overstated.

The party stood candidates in all 74 seats, won 16 of them and officially became the party in opposition. In total, the group received 27,732 votes, which is around 27% of the vote share.

In 2021, the party fielded just two candidates and won 97 votes between them.

Reform's victory saw the group take chunks out of both the Labour and Conservative groups.

Labour received almost 11,000 fewer votes, resulting in their number of councillors dropping from nine to four.

Meanwhile, support for the Tory group fell by 60%, from 51,442 in 2021 to 20,118.

A child has died after a minibus overturned on a motorway slip road, police have said.

The M4 in Berkshire was closed in both directions following the single vehicle collision on the link road from junction 10 of the motorway to the A329M near Reading at about 14:45 BST on Sunday.

The motorway reopened after about three hours but the slip road remained closed, Thames Valley Police (TVP) said just before 20:00.

The force said other passengers were seriously injured in the crash and confirmed no arrests have been made.

National Highways said earlier on Sunday that the M4 was closed eastbound, between junctions 11 and 10, and westbound, between junctions 8/9 and 11, because of a "serious injury incident involving an overturned vehicle" on the link road.

It warned of "severe" delays approaching the closures in both directions, partly because of broken down vehicles in the queues.

South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) confirmed it had five critical care units and six ambulances at the scene near Reading, and a spokesperson for Thames Valley Air Ambulance said it sent a helicopter and a critical care response vehicle.

Royal Berkshire Fire & Rescue crews were also in attendance.

An 18-year-old pedestrian has died after he was struck by a lorry, police have said.

Officers were called to the A623 Bay Gateway, between Mellishaw Lane and Northgate, in Morecambe at 03:00 BST on Sunday.

Lancashire Police said the man, who was from Morecambe, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The force has appealed for any witnesses to come forward and has asked for any CCTV or dashcam footage.

A trainee nurse who was falsely accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a patient will receive compensation from her ex-employer, a tribunal has ruled.

Jessica Thorpe was suspended by the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust after a patient claimed she was pregnant with his child.

Despite a disciplinary hearing not upholding the allegation against her, the suspension continued for about two years and she resigned in November 2022 – a month after being allowed to return to work.

Posting on social media, Ms Thorpe said she was "finally free". The trust said it was disappointed with the tribunal's findings.

Ms Thorpe had sued the trust for constructive unfair dismissal, unlawful deduction of wages and breach of contract.

A decision published in November by the employment tribunal showed she had won all three counts.

This week, a judge ruled the trust should pay her £23,534, which included compensation for her loss of earnings.

Social media earnings

Ms Thorpe joined the trust in 2016 as a healthcare assistant. She was promoted to nursing assistant in 2018, and in January 2020 started a four-year nursing degree apprenticeship at Sunderland University, which allowed her to continue to work.

Documents from the tribunal showed that if Ms Thorpe had not been unfairly dismissed in 2020, she would have earned about £66,500 – including pension contributions – since the end of her employment.

Since her suspension, Ms Thorpe started an Instagram and YouTube profile called Slice of Jess, in which she posted lifestyle, food and clothing content, the papers showed.

Employment Judge Sweeney said he needed to consider whether the £46,400 she made since leaving her job should be taken into account as reducing her post-dismissal losses.

Papers showed Ms Thorpe told the hearing her social media activities were a hobby and compared them to people playing golf or horse riding.

Lost job opportunity

Ms Thorpe also worked part-time as a community care assistant for about 14 months from August 2023, earning about £13,000.

The documents showed she had received a conditional offer of a job with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, but lost that opportunity when she could not provide them with documents requested.

This was because her previous employer failed to send her the appropriate papers, despite her requesting them several times and them having an obligation to do so.

The judge ruled Ms Thorpe's total losses should be considered to amount to about £19,700.

He said: "I am satisfied that [Ms Thorpe] would have continued to engage in some social media activities had she remained in employment with the [trust], albeit to a significantly reduced extent."

He added she was receiving a "good secondary income" by the time she left her employment and it was "highly unlikely" that she would have given up on it.

In a video posted last week, Ms Thorpe said: "Five years to the day that I got sent home suspended – quite poetic.

"My shoulders have dropped, my jaw has unclenched, finally I'm free."

Lynne Shaw, executive director of workforce at the trust, said although it was disappointed of the outcome, the trust respects "the findings of the tribunal and will look at what lessons can be learned".

The ban on the sale of single-use disposable vapes has been welcomed by a health body.

The ban is aimed at protecting children's health and the environment and it means shops and supermarkets will no longer be able to stock them.

Claire Parker, director of strategy and development at NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, said: "It's a really good opportunity to raise the discussion about vaping and smoking and quitting."

She said she would urge the government to go further though, and "think about more restrictions around things like flavours".

Disposable vapes have been cited as a key driver in the rise in youth vaping and Ms Parker said her colleagues in Shropshire "regularly see an increase in children and young people vaping".

"Many children try it once or twice and don't stick with it, but many children do," she said.

The flavours of vapes were a concern to her, because she said they were "often marketed to target younger people".

The ban on disposable vapes will not affect rechargeable or refillable devices, so she added she did not expect it to affect people moving to vapes as a means of quitting cigarettes.

Ms Parker said the health service would continue trying to move tobacco smokers on to vapes, because they do not produce carbon monoxide or tar.

But she said it was still unclear what the full effects of vaping were, so encouraged people not to start vaping if they did not already smoke.

Retailers in England breaching the ban face a £200 fine for the first offence with potentially unlimited fines or jail for those who repeatedly re-offend.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have introduced their own bans, timed to coincide with England's ban.

Cycling in the City of London has increased by more than 50% in the past two years, according to official counts.

October 2024 saw a record 139,000 people cycling a day across 30 locations – up from 89,000 in 2022.

The City of London Corporation said the more than 50% increase was the largest jump since recording started in 1999.

London's walking and cycling commissioner, Will Norman, said he was excited about the increase of cycling in the Square Mile.

'Air quality improving'

According to the corporation, people cycling now make up 56% of all traffic in the peak commuting hours.

And dockless bicycles now account for one in six bikes on City streets.

The changes in traffic mean the City of London Corporation has hit three key targets six years ahead of schedule.

Since 2017 cycling has increased by 70% – the target was 50% by 2030.

Over the same timeframe motor traffic has reduced by 34% – the target was 25% by 2030. And freight traffic is also down 21% – the target was 15% by 2030.

Chairman of the planning and transportation committee at the corporation, Shravan Joshi, said air quality was improving.

"When we first published our strategy in 2019, 15 locations across the City exceeded our air quality objective for toxic nitrogen dioxide," he said. "Last year this figure was down to two."

Céline Dion made a rare appearance during the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest with a brief, pre-recorded message.

The star won the contest for Switzerland in 1988, and it had been rumoured she would take the stage as the ceremony returns to the country this year.

"I'd love nothing more than to be with you," she said in a video, apparently ruling out that possibility. "Switzerland will forever hold a special place in my heart. It's the country that believed in me and gave me the chance to be part of something so extraordinary."

The semi-final saw 10 acts qualify for Saturday's grand finale, including Swedish entrants KAJ, whose song Bara Bada Bastu is the runaway favourite.

Their song, an accordion-led comedy number whose title translates to "let's take a sauna", has a 40% chance of winning, according to bookmakers.

If the prediction comes true, it would be Sweden's eighth Eurovision title – making them the most victorious country in the contest's history (they are currently tied with Ireland, on seven wins each).

Fifteen acts performed at Tuesday's semi-final in Basel's St Jakobshalle. These are the ones who made the cut.

• Norway: Kyle Alessandro – Lighter
• Albania: Shkodra Elektronike – Zjerm
• Sweden: KAJ – Bara Bada Bastu
• Iceland: VÆB – RÓA
• Netherlands: Claude – C'est La Vie
• Poland: Justyna Steczkowska – GAJA
• San Marino: Gabry Ponte – Tutta L'Italia
• Estonia: Tommy Cash – Espresso Macchiato
• Portugal: NAPA – Deslocado
• Ukraine: Ziferblat – Bird of Pray

That means that the Eurovision dreams of Azerbaijan, Belgium, Cyprus, Croatia and Slovenia have all ended for 2025.

Of those, the biggest surprise was Belgium's Red Sebastian, whose rave anthem Strobe Lights had been predicted to finish among the top five.

His disqualification came on the day of his 26th birthday.

Ten more acts will progress to the main competition after Thursday's second semi-final.

The "Big Five" countries, who contribute the most financially to the competition (France, Germany, Spain, the UK and Italy) qualify automatically, as do last year's winners, Switzerland.

Relegation, points deductions, redundancies, transfer embargoes, five collapsed takeovers, petitions and protest after protest.

To say Dai Yongge's tenure as owner of Reading Football Club has been turbulent would be an understatement.

Since the Chinese businessman took over in May 2017, the men's team have lost 18 points due to deductions, while the women's side have dropped four tiers.

The English Football League (EFL) has extended the deadline for Yongge to sell the club to 5 May.

Why are Reading fans unhappy with owner Dai Yongge?

When Chinese businessman Dai Yongge took over Reading in 2017, the Royals were a play-off final win away from the promised land of the Premier League.

After relegation from the Championship in 2023, the club has been battling it out in League One.

Fans blame a lack of investment in players, points deductions and poor management of the club by the owner for their low position in the football pyramid.

The women's team have also tumbled down the leagues due to a lack of funding while a failed attempt to sell the training ground to Wycombe Wanderers angered fans greatly.

How have the fans showed their anger?

Protests – and lots of them.

Most notably in January 2024 when fans took to the pitch of the SCL Stadium during a home match against Port Vale resulting in the game being abandoned.

On various occasions Reading fans have coordinated throwing tennis balls onto the pitch during matches to delay play.

Masks depicting Dai Yongge as a clown and the carrying of a Reading FC coffin have also been on show at the SCL Stadium during the season.

What has the EFL done?

Many Reading fans have been frustrated by what they perceive as a lack of help from the governing body.

Points deductions from the EFL have been frequent for the club which has consistently broken the league's financial rules.

In mid-March, EFL chairman Rick Parry told the BBC that UK corporate law had stopped them "forcing a sale" of the club.

Days later it emerged that the EFL had disqualified Dai Yongge under its Owners' and Directors' Test and imposed an initial date of 4 April for him to sell up. The deadline has since been extended to 5 May.

How many attempts have there been to sell the club?

Dai Yongge has been publicly trying to sell Reading since March 2024.

This was when the club entered the first "period of exclusivity" in which it would only negotiate with one interested buyer.

Since this process started the club has entered into "exclusivity" periods six times, with five collapsing.

The most recent, and ongoing, is believed to be with Rob Couhig.

Who is Rob Couhig?

American businessman and lawyer Rob Couhig is the former owner of Wycombe Wanderers.

Couhig had previously been involved in negotiations to buy the club which collapsed.

In March Dai Yongge was involved in court proceedings in which he attempted to obtain an injunction against Couhig, claiming that he was blocking his attempt to sell the Royals.

The resolution of this legal case will be a key element in the sale of the club.

What happens if Reading FC is not sold?

Like so much of the last few years for Reading, the answer to this question uncertain.

The EFL has mentioned in statements about Dai Yongge that it has the power to suspend a club if a director fails to "comply with the requirements of their disqualification".

Reading's season ends with the visit of Barnsley on 3 May, unless of course they extend their season by making the play-offs, a position they are currently just missing out on by goal difference.

If Reading make the play-offs without being sold, the EFL will have to make a huge decision about what happens next.

Work to install Irish language signs at Grand Central Station in Belfast will not go ahead for at least six months, the High Court has heard.

Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson is challenging Sinn Féin Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins' decision to approve the £150,000 scheme at the city's new public transport hub.

The court was told on Wednesday it was not necessary to impose an interim order against any changes to signs as the procurement process would take six months.

A barrister representing the minister indicated Mr Bryson could face a claim for damages if he lost his case.

"Let's say the costs of IT or signage goes up by £50,000 and the case fails, we need to know… if that will be met," Tony McGleenan KC said.

The judge, Mr Justice Scoffield, asked Mr Bryson if he was prepared to give assurances over any financial damages or losses if he sought and obtained an injunction in an ultimately unsuccessful challenge.

Mr Bryson replied that he would.

"If I was not confident in my own case I would not be here", he added.

Judicial review proceedings were issued after Kimmins announced in March that Irish signage would be installed at Grand Central and on ticket vending machines.

The minister said she was "committed to the visibility and promotion of Irish language" and it was important that Grand Central Station was "reflective of all citizens".

The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) said the signs would cost about £150,000.

Work to introduce the bilingual signs had been put on hold until 1 May because of the legal action.

Representing himself in the case, Mr Bryson contends that Kimmins unlawfully breached the ministerial code by failing to refer the issue to the full Stormont Executive.

Mr Bryson said Kimmins had made it clear she did not believe it was a controversial decision.

"She is not for turning…and it is precisely the type of case where the court should intervene," he said.

Mr Justice Scoffield declined to impose any interim order.

"The main reason why I'm not going to do that is it would put you at risk if it comes to a cross-undertaking in damages," he said.

"Secondly, I've been told by senior Crown counsel, acting on instructions, that the practical position is that nothing is going to happen in the near future."

"It is unnecessary for me to exercise the court's coercive powers."

The judicial review application for hearing has been listed as 9 May.