Poundland’s owner has said it is considering putting the chain up for sale after warning tax changes coming in April will put more pressure on the business.

The discount chain has 825 UK stores but sales were down this January and February, its Polish owner Pepco Group said.

A rise in employer National Insurance (NI) contributions announced in the Budget start in April and Pepco says these will “add further pressure” to Poundland’s costs.

A host of High Street brands have warned of shop closures, job losses and price rises as a result of rising costs, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves has defended the NI increase as “the right decisions in the national interest”.

Pepco Group said Poundland was “operating in an increasingly challenging UK retail landscape that is only intensifying”.

“From April 2025, the UK government’s additional tax changes announced in the Budget will also add further pressure to Poundland’s cost base,” it added.

Retailers have been among the most vocal of businesses criticising the NI increase and the rise in the minimum wage, which will both happen in April.

Tesco, Amazon, Greggs, Next and dozens of other chains last year wrote to the Treasury urging it reconsider some of the Budget measures.

The government has defended the tax rise as necessary to avoid cuts to public services.

The Pepco Group, which owns Pepco bargain stores in Poland, is making a profit so is looking at ways to separate itself from Poundland “including a potential sale,” it said.

As part of the plans, former Poundland managing director Barry Williams, who took over as managing director of Pepco in September 2023, will return to his Poundland role.

Stephan Borchert, chief executive of Pepco Group, told Reuters there are “definitely interested parties for this business” and said he was confident Poundland’s future would be decided by September this year.

“Definitely we’re looking at all options but a sale is possibly a very good option since we believe that the business will do better with a new owner,” he said.

People have described a scene of “sheer panic” as a car crashed through a fence and on to a sports pitch, killing a child and injuring another.

The pair were struck at Kendal rugby club at about 17:00 GMT on Wednesday, Cumbria Police said.

Eyewitness Scott Denney said it “all happened very fast”, adding: “Just as we got on to the pitch, a car came through the barriers at the top and then landed on the pitch.”

A male driver, who is aged in his 40s, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

Mr Denney, whose son attends the GT7 Football Academy which holds training sessions at the rugby club, said he had “no idea” how the car got on to the field.

“It was just sheer panic. It was just not very nice at all.

“The children were obviously scared but the coaches dealt with it really, really well.”

He said staff got the children off the field and out of view of the crash site, and added: “Last night there was a lot of families here that pulled together to give support to the mum and dad and friends of the [victims].”

Tim Farron, the MP for the area, said news of the crash was “utterly devastating”.

“There was this shared sense of utter shock and horror, the whole town is utterly, utterly devastated by this,” he said.

A police presence remained at the rugby club into the night.

The Reverend Canon Shanthi Thompson, from Kendal Parish Church, said a moment of silence was held after its Ash Wednesday service “because it’s so hard to find the words to say at a time like this”.

“Kendal is a very close community and many, many people will have links to the rugby club and people will know the children involved,” she told BBC Radio Cumbria.

At the scene

Jennie Dennett, BBC Radio Cumbria

The sunrise here is lighting the frosty pitch and the very wrong sight of two buckled fence panels that are pitchside, opposite the clubhouse car park.

The green panels have bent right over in front of the drop down to the pitch and there is blue and white police tape across the gap in the fence.

It’s an indication of the awful consequences of yesterday’s crash.

Nine major banks and building societies operating in the UK accumulated at least 803 hours – the equivalent of 33 days – of tech outages in the past two years, figures published by a group of MPs show.

The Treasury Committee – which has been investigating the impact of banking IT failures – compelled Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, Santander, NatWest, Danske Bank, Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Bank to provide the data.

It does not include the Barclays outage in January or the Lloyds outage last week – two incidents which occurred on pay day for many people, and left customers unable to pay their staff and bills.

The report finds Barclays could now face compensation payments of £12.5m.

“For families and individuals living pay cheque to pay cheque, losing access to banking services on payday can be a terrifying experience,” said Dame Meg Hillier, the committee’s chair.

“The fact there has been enough outages to fill a whole month within the last two years shows customers’ frustrations are completely valid,” she added.

Speaking on the Today programme, on BBC Radio Four, she said she hoped putting the data in the public domain would encourage banks and the regulator to see if there was any more that could be done to reduce the disruption.

“This once again highlights that the traditional banking sector hasn’t kept pace with the investment needed to modernise its infrastructure,” said Patrick Burgess of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.

The Treasury Committee data looked at IT failures which affected millions of customers between January, 2023 and February this year. They found there had been 158 incidents.

While the data does not include the Barclays outage in January, which left one family without a home, the bank did confirm to the committee that over half of online payments over the course of three days did not work due to “severe degradation” of their system’s performance.

The bank confirmed to the committee that it expects to pay between £5m and £7.5m in compensation to customers for “inconvenience or distress”.

When taking into account all the information shared by Barclays, this means the bank could pay out up to £12.5m in compensation due to outages over the last two years.

The second highest amount paid out by a firm in that same period is £350,000 from the Bank of Ireland.

The compensation paid out by other banks was:

• AIB (£590)
• HSBC (£232,697)
• Lloyds (£160,0000
• Nationwide (£77,452)
• NatWest (£348,000)
• Santander (£17,000)

In his submission to the committee, Vim Maru – the Chief Executive of Barclays UK – said the January outage was caused by a software problem with their system, and the incident was not due to a cyber-attack “or any other malicious activity”.

“We continue to work through the impact to ensure no customer or client will be out of pocket as a result of the incident.”

Barclays told BBC News it was “deeply sorry to customers who have been impacted by any service outage”.

Leading child doctors have joined calls for a complete ban on smacking children in England, saying there is no evidence it has any positive effect on their wellbeing.

Currently, smacking is unlawful in England, except in cases where it amounts to a “reasonable punishment”.

Now the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) wants that legal defence to be removed, using an amendment to a law which is currently making its way through Parliament.

The Department for Education said the government had no plans to change the law on smacking, but that it was committed to giving every child the best start in life.

Prof Andrew Rowland, RCPCH officer for child protection, said: “Now is the time for this Victorian-era punishment to go.”

If enough MPs backed the amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, tabled by Labour MP Jess Asato in January, then the defence of smacking as a “reasonable punishment” would be completely outlawed in England.

Currently, the situation on smacking children is different depending on where you are in the UK.

In Scotland and Wales, corporal – or physical – punishment is illegal, but in England and Northern Ireland the “reasonable punishment” defence still stands.

In England, the defence is included in the Children Act of 2004, but smacking children has been permitted by law since 1860.

Scotland was the first UK country to ban corporal punishment in November 2020, followed by Wales in March 2022.

Prof Rowland said there were 67 countries around the world which had already adopted smacking bans, with a further 20 committing to do so.

The government said it was “looking closely” at the changes made in Scotland and Wales, but had no plans to legislate on smacking at this stage.

A spokesperson said the bill in its current form represented the “single biggest piece of child protection legislation in a generation”.

“This government has prioritised significant reform of the children’s social care system, driving better child protection and information sharing between education, health and social workers to stop vulnerable children falling through the cracks,” they added.

Parents at a baby sensory group in Sale, Greater Manchester, told the BBC they were all against smacking children, but some were unsure about whether it was right for the government to intervene.

Mum Leanne Casey, said parents “should be able to discipline how they see fit”, but added: “I don’t agree with smacking children though, so if a ban is what it takes then I’d agree that is what you need to do.”

Dad Oli Harrison said he would “never intervene” in another person’s parenting methods, but added that a ban would “probably be beneficial” to avoid it being seen as a “grey area”.

When looking at populations as a whole, Prof Rowland said physical punishment “undoubtedly harms children’s health”.

He said there were no scientific studies which provided robust evidence that smacking had any positive effect on children’s wellbeing.

Calls for a ban on smacking intensified after the death of 10-year-old Sara Sharif.

Sara was murdered in August 2023 after a “campaign of torture” by her father and stepmother which lasted for two years.

Her father, who had fled to Pakistan after the murder, had phoned police in England claiming he had “legally punished” Sara before her death.

It is unlawful in England to assault a child causing actual or grievous bodily harm, or cruelty, but Prof Rowland said academic studies had shown children who were punished physically were at an increased risk of serious physical assault.

He said a complete ban on smacking would make it easier for the authorities to “draw a line and say there are never any circumstances involved where physical punishment of children is ever legal”.

Other organisations, including the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, have also backed the amendment.

Joanna Barrett, from the charity, said smacking had been associated with “depression, anxiety, increased aggression, and antisocial behaviour”.

She said a legal change was needed “urgently”, adding that “right now we know physical punishment remains a part of childhood for too many young people in England”.

Lynn Perry, chief executive of the Barnardo’s children’s charity, said: “No violence against children is acceptable. And yet children continue to face less legal protection against physical assault than adults.”

Additional reporting by Hope Rhodes

A new part of the immune system has been discovered and it is a goldmine of potential antibiotics, scientists have said.

They’ve shown a part of the body known to recycle proteins has a secret mode that can spew out an arsenal of bacteria-killing chemicals.

The researchers in Israel say it transforms our understanding of how we are protected against infection.

And gives a new place to look for antibiotics to tackle the growing problem of superbugs that resist our current drugs.

The discovery centres on the proteasome – a tiny structure that is found in every cell of the body.

Its main role is to chop up old proteins into smaller chunks so they can be recycled to make new ones.

But a series of experiments, detailed in the journal Nature, shows the proteasome detects when a cell has been infected by bacteria.

It then changes structure and role. It starts transforming old proteins into weapons that can rip open the outer layer of bacteria to kill them.

Prof Yifat Merbl, from the Weizmann Institute of Science, told me: “This is really exciting, because we never knew that this was happening.

“We discovered a novel mechanism of immunity that is allowing us to have a defense against bacterial infection.

“It’s happening throughout our body in all the cells, and generates a whole new class of potential natural antibiotics.”

The research team went through a process they called “dumpster diving” to find these natural antibiotics.

They were tested on bacteria growing in the laboratory and on mice with pneumonia and sepsis. The researchers said they were getting results comparable to some established antibiotics.

And when the researchers took cells in the laboratory and disabled the proteasome they were far easier to infect with bacteria like Salmonella.

Prof Daniel Davis, the head of life sciences and an immunologist at Imperial College London, said the findings were “extremely provocative and very interesting” as they changed our understanding of how our body fights infection.

“What’s really exciting about this, is it’s a totally undiscovered process by which anti-germ molecules are made inside our cells, it feels profoundly important and surprising.”

But he cautioned that turning this into a new source of antibiotics is an idea that “still needs to be tested” and that will take time.

More than a million people a year are estimated to die from infections that are resistant to drugs like antibiotics.

But despite the need, there has been a lack of research into developing new antibiotics to keep up with demand.

Against that bleak background, having somewhere new to look is a source of optimism for some scientists.

Dr Lindsey Edwards, a senior lecturer in microbiology at King’s College London, told the BBC: “It’s a potential goldmine for new antibiotics, that’s quite exciting.

“In previous years it’s been digging up soil [to find new antibiotics], it is wild that it’s something we have within us, but comes down to having the technology to be able to detect these things.”

She also says there could be fewer issues with developing them into drugs because they are already products of the human body so the “safety side of it might be a lot easier”.

A large portion of council leaders fear a major shake-up of local government will not solve the financial pressures their authorities are facing, a survey has suggested.

Ministers are streamlining local government by merging councils and setting up single authorities that provide all the services in their areas.

But a survey by the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) think tank suggested there was low support for it among council leaders, with less than a quarter of those who responded believing the changes would ease their financial challenges.

A government spokesperson said reorganisation was “a tough choice” but “the right one” to improve the sustainability and resilience of local authorities.

Councils have been under financial pressure for some time.

A recent report by the National Audit Office found funding had failed to keep pace with growing demand for services – particularly social care, support for children with special educational needs and disabilities, and temporary accommodation.

The government has increased the amount of money available to councils, and has promised to reform the way their funding works.

The government says the reorganisation will streamline and simplify services, make savings and create structures that will allow more powers to be handed down to council leaders and mayors.

But in some areas the plans have proved controversial.

A survey of council leaders and senior officials, carried out by the LGIU, found many thought the plans were unclear, the timescales were not achievable and while the plans might produce long-term savings, they would add to pressure on councils in the short-term.

Only 23% of those surveyed agreed with the statement that the reorganisation would alleviate the financial challenges facing councils.

The survey received responses from 150 councils out of 317 in England.

The think tank’s chief executive, Jonathan Carr-West, said: “On the one hand, the government has had some success in resetting the central-local relationship and there is near consensus that the promised multi-year settlements will benefit council finances.

“Conversely, many councils are anticipating that reorganisation and the increase in National Insurance Contributions will heap added pressure onto already overextended council budgets.”

The LGIU said the problems were not “insurmountable”, calling for councils to be more involved and more “manageable” timescales.

The restructuring of local councils started in some places under the last Conservative government, with Labour planning to extend it across all of England.

It would mean areas with two-tiers of councils, both county and district, would be replaced with single “unitary” councils that provide all services, with more regional mayors.

Last month the government agreed to delay local elections that were due to take place in May in nine council areas to allow them to reorganise.

For some, it’s a welcome move that will make help councils deliver services more effectively.

Tim Oliver, chairman of County Councils Network, which represents larger local authorities in England, said: “Financial pressures, coupled with the structural weaknesses and the public’s confusion of the multi-tier system, means that it has become impossible to justify.

“The government’s timelines for proposals for change are ambitious, but county councils and their partners are working hard to match these and deliver forward-looking proposals for new unitary councils.”

Others – including the District Councils’ Network, which represents smaller authorities – have warned it would create a period of “turmoil”.

While there’s some disagreement about the government’s plans to reshape local councils, many across the sector say the bigger challenge is addressing the underlying financial pressures they face.

For the financial year from April, 30 councils have been given “exceptional financial support” to help them balance the books, with many councils planning on increasing council tax and cutting services.

A government spokesperson said it is making £69bn of funding available to councils across England – which includes council tax rises.

“This government inherited a crumbling local government sector,” the spokesperson said.

“We are prepared to take tough choices necessary to rebuild local government and give taxpayers the services they deserve.”

A 16-year-old boy was shot by a man dressed as a food delivery driver on a moped, an eyewitness to the killing has told the BBC.

They said two boys came down the stairs at a block of flats when the man on the moped took out a gun and shot the boy dead. The other boy ran away, and the moped driver sped off, they added.

Police continue to look for those involved in the fatal shooting of the teenager in Stockwell on Tuesday afternoon.

The Metropolitan Police said the teenager died after being shot in an “enormously shocking incident” on Paradise Road at about 14:30 GMT. Police said inquiries were still ongoing.

No arrests have been made.

The eyewitness added the teenager who died was well known in the area and was involved in gangs.

Those living in the area have been shocked by the incident.

Patricia, who has lived in Stockwell for 21 years, said: “The situation is really bad now. I don’t go out anymore. In the night, I don’t feel safe.

“I feel so bad for the boy. It’s too much for me.”

Sandra, who also lives nearby, told BBC London on Wednesday: “It’s very sad; we know the family. The dad is very well known round here, who brought up our kids in youth clubs.

“It is awful, really sad, and really horrible.”

Roisin and Niamh said: “It feels quite unsafe; we are five girls living in a flat, and to have that on your doorstep is scary.”

They added: “We’re very upset for the whole community, and it’s a big shock to the system arriving home from work and having to sign in and out to get into your flat, with police constant over the last 24 hours.”

Florence Eshalomi, Labour (Co-op) MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, told BBC London she wants people to feel safe within their community.

“Stockwell is a vibrant, diverse, close-knit community. We are going to make sure that there is a visible police presence to reassure people,” she said.

The MP added: “We will not tolerate this level of violence in Stockwell, Vauxhall or Camberwell Green, or anywhere across London.

“This is a sad, wasted life; this boy could have had so much potential. His future has been robbed.

“The family and community will continue to grieve; you can never get over this shock.”

Councillor Dr Mahamed Hashi, Lambeth’s Cabinet Member for Safer Communities, said: “We are shocked at this tragic violence in our borough in which a teenager has so cruelly been taken from us.

“As a council, we are committed to making Lambeth one of the safest boroughs in London and are working incredibly hard to play our role in ensuring the kind of violence that has so sadly claimed this young person’s life ends, and that all our young people have a secure future here.”

The Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, said: “This abhorrent violence has absolutely no place in our city.”

Sir Sadiq added: “My thoughts are with the family, friends and wider community in Stockwell.”

On Tuesday, Supt Gabriel Cameron said: “Our thoughts are with the young boy’s family at this devastating time.”

He added: “This is an enormously shocking incident, which I imagine will cause huge distress to the local community.

“Local officers are on the scene gathering CCTV and speaking to witnesses to piece together what has happened.”

A police cordon and road closures remain in place following the third homicide in the capital of someone aged under 25 this year.

Additional reporting by Gem O’Reilly and Barry Caffrey

The chancellor has earmarked several billion pounds in draft spending cuts to welfare and other government departments ahead of the Spring Statement.

The Treasury will put the proposed cuts to the government’s official forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), on Wednesday amid expectations the chancellor’s financial buffer has been wiped out.

Sources said “the world has changed” since Rachel Reeves’s Budget last October, when the OBR indicated she had £9.9bn available to spend against her self-imposed borrowing rules.

The OBR’s forecast is likely to see that disappear because of global factors such as trade tariffs, as well as higher inflation and borrowing costs in the UK.

The Treasury will on Wednesday inform the OBR of its “major measures” -essentially changes to tax and spending in order to meet the chancellor’s self-imposed rules on borrowing money.

The government has committed to get debt falling as a share of the economy during the course of this Parliament, and to only borrow to fund investment, not to cover day-to-day spending.

Such rules are put in place by most governments in wealthy nations and are designed to maintain credibility with financial markets. Reeves has repeatedly said her rules are “non-negotiable”.

The spending cuts drafted by the Treasury will help plug the gap that has emerged in recent months, ahead of the OBR publishing its forecast and Reeves giving a statement on 26 March.

Insiders expect “politically painful” new welfare cuts that are designed to reduce the huge growth in health-related benefits, which will be outlined in a forthcoming speech from Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall.

The Treasury has blamed global economic policy and geopolitical uncertainty for hiking up government borrowing costs.

Asked on Wednesday if welfare cuts were the right approach, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there had been a “huge rise in the welfare budget” and there were “too many” young people not in work, education or training.

“There’s a moral case here for making sure that people who can work are able to work and there’s a practical point here as well, because our current situation is unsustainable,” he added.

Mahmood declined to comment on whether the justice department would face cuts, saying she was “not going to get ahead” of Treasury announcements.

Reeves has previously pledged “fundamental” reform of the welfare system, with concerns over rising spending on health-related benefits.

Last year, the government spent £65bn on sickness benefits – a 25% increase from the year before the Covid pandemic.

That figure is forecast to increase to around £100bn before the next general election.

Some of that is a legacy of Covid, but ministers have complained about incentives in the system.

People on universal credit must show evidence they have applied for jobs, or face sanctions – but people out of work who also qualify for sickness benefits both get more money and are not necessarily required to seek work.

Ministers believe that this encourages some people to “game the system”.

But Fire Brigades Union general secretary Steve Wright said welfare cuts “would be an outrageous attack on the poorest and most vulnerable”.

The chancellor is set to argue that the government was always going to “fix welfare to get people back to work” and “make the NHS more productive”.

An insider told the BBC: “Headroom or no headroom, the chancellor is determined to push through the change we need to make Britain more secure and prosperous, with the whole government making that argument in the coming weeks.”

This week, US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on its three biggest trading partners: Canada, Mexico and China.

Trump has indicated that the UK could avoid border taxes, but Reeves told the BBC on Tuesday that even if the UK is not hit by tariffs, a global trade war would lower growth and raise inflation.

Meanwhile, uncertainty over the war in Ukraine also remains, with the UK deciding to boost defence spending by cutting international aid.

One government insider told the BBC: “Clearly the world has changed a lot since the autumn Budget. People are watching that change happen before their eyes.

“The Office for Budget Responsibility will reflect that changing world in its forecasts later this month and a changing world will be a core feature of the chancellor’s response later this month.”

It is understood that the euro area economy stagnating and lower UK productivity numbers have affected the OBR’s forecast.

But there have also been concerns raised about the impact of Reeves’s previously announced tax rises on businesses, which are set to take effect in April, on the UK economy.

Some firms have warned the higher tax will likely be passed on through increased prices for customers.

Inflation, which is a measure used to give a general picture of how living costs have changed over a year, is expect to rise in the coming months as households are hit with increases to energy, water and council tax bills, among others.

In the run-up to the Spring Statement, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden and Health Secretary Wes Streeting will also outline a significant efficiency drive within the civil service, which they hope will lead to significant headcount and cost savings.

Hannah Howie was a year away from getting married when a revelation from the past turned her life upside down.

Through research into her ancestry and family tree, her brother-in-law made an alarming discovery.

Luke Emerton found that a number of women on the paternal side had died from breast cancer at a young age – including Hannah’s grandmother.

This led to the 34-year-old having genetic testing and finding out she had a faulty gene, which dramatically increases the risk of certain cancers.

The BRCA genes are present in every person, both men and women, but when a fault occurs in one of them it can result in DNA damage and lead to cells becoming cancerous.

People with a genetic variant have a 50% chance of passing it on to their children.

Luke told BBC Scotland News how he stumbled upon the discovery.

He said: “We were trying to pull together a family tree for Hannah’s dad for his birthday and we found there was a line of female relatives on her dad’s side who had died of breast cancer at a young age.

“We clocked it with her gran, Agnes, who died at 33.

“Then we started noticing a pattern.”

He said the enormity of his discovery had yet to hit home.

Luke said: “Looking back, it’s so strange how all of this has come from that one gift.

“I’m so glad we found out this way and that Hannah knows about it and can act on decreasing the risk.

“The fact she has been able to pre-empt all of this is incredible.”

Prof Zosia Miedzybrodska, of the University of Aberdeen, decsribed BRCA 2 as a “huge gene” and said it could mutate and go wrong “in many ways”.

And she said the percentage difference between male and female cancers was “quite significant”.

“The risk increase for a woman with breast cancer is anywhere up to 85%,” she said.

“For prostate cancer it’s 27% and for male breast cancer it’s 10%.

“The only way you know if you have the faulty BRCA 2 gene is if there is a history of breast, prostate or ovarian cancer in the family.”

Cruise ship entertainer Hannah booked an appointment to discover if she had the gene, which also dramatically increases the risk of ovarian cancer.

She told BBC Scotland News: “I had to find out if I had the faulty BRCA 2 gene.

“Some people don’t want to know but for my sanity, I really had to know.”

A few weeks later, in November 2023, it was confirmed that Hannah had the BRCA 2 gene.

She immediately switched to survivor mode.

Hannah added: “When I heard the news, there were so many treatment options available.

“I knew I had to pick the one that would give me the most longevity in my life.

“The life I lead is too good to let it go.”

The entertainer said she had little doubt about what to do.

She said: “The doctor explained the biggest risk averter would be going for a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.

“If I go for this option, the breast cancer risk drops from 85% to 5%.

“It was a no-brainer for me. It was what I had to do.”

Hannah is due to go for a double mastectomy next week to remove the breast tissue and reduce her risk of breast cancer.

This will be followed by reconstructive surgery in the next few months.

Breast cancer surgeon Dr Liz O’Riordan said: “The reason we can’t say the percentage of BRCA 2 is 0% after the surgery is because it’s impossible to know if we have removed all breast tissue.

“It’s like removing seeds from an orange. You can’t be certain you’ve got them all.

“Even after surgery, our patients are told to be hypervigilant in checking themselves.

“You can’t be too careful when checking your body for any lumps or bumps.”

Hannah, who is just a year older than her late gran was when she died, is receiving her treatment through the NHS.

She is being supported by her husband, Graeme McLean, who she married in December last year.

Hannah said: “I had started thinking about children.

“If I have them, I run the risk of passing the gene onto them.

“Did I really want the possibility of my future children having to go through the same as me?”

Hannah, who is from Edinburgh but now lives in Motherwell, said she was overwhelmed at the thought of that happening.

She added: “That’s when I decided I would start taking my life day-by-day, hour-by-hour and minute-by-minute.

“I had to for my sanity.”

To cope with the life-altering development Hannah has written and starred in a cabaret called A Funeral for My Boobs.

She said: “I know it’s something many would look at negatively.

“Looking at it positively has really helped me come to terms with it.

“I call it A Fun-eral for My Boobs because to me it just feels like I’m welcoming the next chapter of my life.”

In the meantime, she said she is thankful for the “geekiness” of her brother-in-law whose research changed everything.

She said: “Mentally and physically, knowing has been a huge game-changer.

“I’ve had to rethink my entire future but knowing this has allowed me to pre-empt and prepare for it.

“That’s a luxury not a lot of people have.”

At-home tests for men worried about prostate cancer can give inconsistent and inaccurate results, BBC News has found.

The tests, which resemble a Covid lateral flow strip, turn positive if a high level of a protein called PSA is detected in a drop of blood.

Of five rapid tests analysed by the BBC, one did not work, three were negative or all-clear, but one returned a false positive result – all from the same blood sample.

Prostate Cancer UK said it had significant concerns about the sale of the tests given their “questionable accuracy” and the absence of a doctor to interpret the results.

There is no national prostate cancer screening programme in the UK, unlike for breast, bowel and cervical cancer.

Instead, the onus is on men to request a blood test from their GP once they are over 50 years old, or from 45 for higher risk groups.

That NHS test, which is processed in a laboratory, measures the level of PSA released by the prostate, a small gland involved in the production of semen.

A high PSA level does not mean you have cancer but is a warning sign which can then lead to further scans and tests to rule out the disease.

PSA levels can be high for a number of other reasons – including an infection, recent vigorous exercise or sex – or in some rare cases remain normal despite cancer.

Google search data suggests interest in testing has risen sharply since the Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy went public with his own diagnosis in October 2024.

Dozens of companies now sell self-testing kits designed to measure PSA levels.

They are available online and from some pharmacies and convenience stores with prices from £6 to £95.

They come in two main types:

• tests in which a blood sample is taken at home and posted to a private laboratory for analysis
• rapid tests which give a result in minutes and display a dark line if PSA is detected above a certain level

The BBC analysed five rapid tests all bought online from different companies, using a blood sample taken on the same day.

The UK medicines regulator, the MHRA, says in its guidance that over-the-counter PSA kits are “not a reliable indicator of prostate cancer” and must not “claim to detect cancer”.

Instead, at-home tests are often marketed as a way to “screen” for the disease or “assess prostate cancer risk”, language the regulator says would be allowed under the current rules.

One of the home tests ordered by the BBC also arrived in packaging and with instructions clearly marked “for professional use only”.

For someone with no medical experience, the kits can be difficult to use.

A disposable lancet must pierce the skin, before drops of blood can be sucked into a pipette, mixed with a chemical and placed in the test cassette.

Of the five kits analysed by the BBC, one did not produce a readable result; three came back all clear; but one did show a solid dark line, indicating a PSA level above 4.0 ug/l.

A private blood test taken the same day and sent to a laboratory showed a much lower reading of 0.27 ug/l.

“As your experience shows, these rapid tests appear to have questionable accuracy,” says Amy Rylance, assistant director of health improvement at Prostate Cancer UK.

“That’s a big problem because they can falsely reassure people who really do have elevated levels of PSA and should seek further testing, or they can cause undue worry among people who are absolutely fine.”

Online reviews appear to bear that out.

In one, a customer posted that he was “really scared” after two rapid home tests indicated a high PSA level. A later NHS test showed his reading was normal.

In another one-star review, a woman wrote that her husband took two home tests for “peace of mind” and both were negative. An NHS blood test then showed high levels of PSA and he was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer.

The British In Vitro Diagnostics Association, which represents the blood testing industry, says that while home tests are appropriate in many circumstances, “this particular type of [PSA] test may not give an accurate indication of prostate health when taken outside the NHS”.

Instead it says men concerned they may have cancer should see their GP.

In the NHS, doctors often use PSA testing as part of a wider consultation about prostate health, bringing in other risk factors like age, ethnicity and family history.

Dr Sam Merriel, a GP and prostate cancer researcher at the University of Manchester, says a full NHS laboratory test can give a far more detailed picture than a cheap home kit that is either positive or negative.

“The actual PSA reading is really important to understand because, as a GP, if I saw a PSA of 4.0 I’d be treating that very differently from a PSA of 400,” he adds.

“You just don’t get that level of information from a fast home test, so patients might not get the full picture.”

Prostate Cancer UK describes the growth of home testing as “the symptom of a wider problem”.

“Too many men still don’t realise they can access tests through a GP and the guidelines for doctors are dangerously outdated,” says Amy Rylance from the charity.

Sir Chris Hoy has been calling for the age to be lowered at which those at higher risk, such as black men or those with a family history, can ask their GP for PSA testing.

The government says current guidelines should not stop doctors from offering a test under the age of 50, but critics say the rules are unclear and there are huge variations in diagnosis rates between GP surgeries.

Prostate Cancer UK has also been calling for a change to allow medics to proactively talk to higher risk patients about the pros and cons of testing instead of waiting for them to come forward.

A spokesman for the Department of Health says it has asked the UK National Screening Committee, which advises the NHS, to review the evidence on testing, with a response expected later this year.

“Prostate cancer patients are waiting too long for diagnosis and treatment but through our National Cancer Plan we will transform the way we treat cancer,” he added.

Most areas in England are planning cuts to specialist eating-disorder services for children and young people this year, an analysis shows.

Of the nation’s 42 NHS integrated care boards, 24 are due to reduce spending for under-18s in 2024-25, once inflation is taken into account.

Overall spending is due to go up by 2.9%, with budgets rising in the other areas, but the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP), which carried out the analysis, said this was too little to cope with increased in demand.

NHS England said improving care was “vital” and more action was being taken in the community to support young people before their condition became a crisis.

Spending had been increasing for a number of years but “more work needs to be done”, an official added.

Veronika, 20, has been struggling with an eating disorder for five years.

“Shrugged off” by services in the past, she says cuts could be “catastrophic” for people like her.

“It will have a knock-on impact and people won’t want to seek help even from their GP, even for physical-health monitoring,” Veronika says.

“It will just spiral on and on.

“It is horrible living day in and day out with it.

“And if you are not seen quick enough, I know myself how quickly things can spiral in a matter of weeks or days.

“It is going to be tragic for some and just long and horrible for others”.

Eating-disorder services cover a range of different support, from therapy and counselling to crisis support and hospital treatment.

But they were already underfunded, the RCP said, and it had had to ration care to the under-18s most affected.

Last year, referrals went up by 13%.

By the end of 2024, more than 6,000 under-18s were on waiting lists.

And targets for routine and urgent waits are not currently being met.

Dr Ashish Kumar, of the RCP, said: “Eating disorders, in particular anorexia, have high rates of mortality yet are treatable conditions.

“And with the right care and support in a timely manner, most patients can make a full recovery.”

Tom Quinn, of the eating disorder charity Beat, said: “We are extremely concerned at the prospect of funding cuts to children and young people’s eating-disorder services.

“These vital services are already on their knees.”

It comes after the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Eating Disorders warned “woefully inadequate care” meant lives were being lost and families torn apart.

Ministers have pledged to increase the number of judges hearing criminal cases in an attempt to cut unprecedented backlogs and delays in Crown Courts in England and Wales.

The Ministry of Justice’s announcement that judges will be funded to run more courtrooms than before comes as two highly critical reports say that victims of crime are being failed.

The Victims Commissioner Baroness Newlove said that some victims were so traumatised by delays they had resorted to drugs, alcohol and self-harm.

The new funding means judges can hear Crown Court cases for up to 110,000 days in total, which minister hope will start to cut a record backlog of 73,000 unresolved prosecutions.

Suspects being charged with new offences today are regularly told that there might not be a trial until 2027 – and some courts are already looking for diary space in 2028.

The delays – which have been caused by a combination of cuts to courts, the pandemic and then a barristers’ strike over pay – have also led to a record 17,000 defendants being held on remand, taking up a fifth of spaces in the crisis-ridden jails.

Last November, Baroness Sue Carr, the Lady Chief Justice, told Parliament she had enough judges available to sit for 113,000 days a year in court.

She said a cap on sitting days had a “drastic effect”, with her local leaders having to reschedule cases and cancel work given to part-time judges, who are critical to clearing the backlog.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “This government inherited a record and rising courts backlog, with justice delayed and denied for far too many victims.

“Bearing down on that backlog is an essential element of our Plan for Change, bringing offenders to justice to keep our streets safe.”

Mahmood said that recommendations from an ongoing review of how to speed up the criminal courts would play a key role in cutting the backlogs.

But two reports have raised questions about how quickly the government is acting.

The Victims Commissioner Baroness Newlove said in a report published on Tuesday that justice felt “out of reach” for many victims, which was causing extra trauma.

One woman, who had suffered sexual abuse, tried to take her own life after the trial of her attacker was put back.

Baroness Newlove urged the government to reverse a planned cut of around 4% to crucial victim support services, which she warned were under “immense pressure” because delays meant they are dealing with more clients than ever.

“With funding cuts looming, we face the very real threat of reduced support,” she said.

“I fear this will drive some victims to give up on seeking justice altogether – a second injustice compounding the first.”

Separately, Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee said it was concerned that the MOJ had “accepted” court delays getting worse until recommendations from the major review into reforming the courts, led by retired judge Sir Brian Leveson, were implemented.

The report said that the courts could not keep up with the rate of new cases arriving at their doors .

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the committee’s chair, said: “Our report is a terrible indictment of our criminal justice system and the government urgently need to reorganise it to aspire to that world-class standard for which the UK used to be renowned.”

Mary Prior KC, chair of the Criminal Bar Association which represents barristers, said that 110,000 sitting days was the minimum that had been needed since 2022.

“We welcome these additional sitting days… but to do our collective best to reduce the backlog we must ask for uncapped sitting days in the Crown Court for at least the next five years.”