tonight at ten... the home office under sustained attack for the way it handles police funding in england and wales. as the official pay recommendation is rejected by ministers, and forces struggle with budget cuts, britain's most senior officer speaks out. how can i recruit? how can i retain? and how can i make my officers and staff feel that i really value them because i think this is a punch on the nose. but the home secretary, speaking at the same conference, said he would be fighting for more resources for the police. i will continue to fight on the police‘s behalf so that you have the resources that you need to do yourjobs effectively. we'll have more details, as an official report accuses the home office of being ‘ineffective and detached'. also tonight... labour says it would give millions of casual workers many of the rights of other employees, including sick pay and parental leave. leading conservative brexit supporters at westminster launch

a document saying the uk has nothing to fear from leaving the eu without a deal. in belgium, the latest efforts to stop the human traffickers trying to transport refugees and migrants to the uk. and, england's cricketers achieve victory against india in the final test of a memorable series. and coming up on sportsday on bbc news: can england shake off a run of defeats that threaten to take the shine off their golden summer? good evening. the home office has been criticised in an official report for the way it oversees policing

in england and wales. the national audit office calls the approach to police funding "ineffective and detached from the changing nature of policing". it says the home office doesn't know whether the police system in england and wales is "financially sustainable" following widespread spending cuts. cressida dick, the commissioner of the metropolitan police, said lower pay awards had made it much more difficult to attract the best people. our home editor mark easton has more details. birmingham, this afternoon, the front line of policing at a time when the local force has seen a quarter of its budget lost in real terms since 2010. so, what is the impact of those cuts here and across england and wales? according to the national audit office, the government cannot possibly know because, when it comes to the home office's oversight of policing, there are no common standards, no national picture, no plan or principles and no overarching strategy.

three years ago, when theresa may was home secretary here, the department was told there were significant gaps in its understanding of the pressures and demands of policing. today, the auditors report that little has changed. indeed, the police, they say, have simply not received proper attention. we have real concerns about it and i think that's fair. and the funding formula that they've used to allocate money is out of date and the home office told parliament in 2015 that the formula was ineffective. here we are, three years later, there hasn't been an update of that formula and so it's unlikely that the money is going to the right places. we wanted to ask the home secretary about the auditors‘ warning. why does the home office have no strategy on policing? but sajid javid was not taking reporters‘ questions. why does the home office have no strategy on policing, mrjavid? he was on his way to the police superintendents‘ conference where, again,

he declined to answer media questions on the report, saying only this. many of you will be aware, for example today, of the national audit office‘s report on the financial sustainability of policing. and whilst there are some aspects of the report that i don‘t quite agree with, it rightly recognises the pressures on policing. pressures, which senior officers say, have damaged morale. at the same conference, met commissioner cressida dick said the home office‘s refusal to pay police what the independent review body had recommended defied rational argument. i do feel disappointed by the decision and i will keep on saying so and, meanwhile, i need to think how can my officers... how can i recruit, how can i retain and how can i make my officers and staff feel that i really value them because i think this is a punch on the nose? today‘s report shows the variable impact of the cuts. a 25% real—terms reduction in northumbria since 2010 but only 11% in surrey.

the shadow home secretary says the lack of oversight is scandalous. what they‘re saying is notjust that the home office does not have a strategy, they‘ve noted the cuts in the workforce and the cuts in the funding available and they‘re saying the home office does not understand the consequences of those cuts and that‘s really damning. the home office insists the nao report is out of date, failing to reflect recent work on changing demands and pressure. it is for the police sector to set the strategy, the department says. but the auditors are clear. ministers have overall responsibility and, amid deep cuts, police are struggling to deliver an effective service. so, the home secretary say something

ofa so, the home secretary say something of a double whammy. the official auditors both accusing the home office of not doing what they should to help the police keep the public safe. in normal times a home secretary facing that kind of thing may well be on the ropes but he is still new in the job. there is an understanding he needs to get his feet under the table. you know there is growing public concern about crime levels and the constant threat of terrorism. there is also public concern about the effect of cuts on public services, including the police. the home secretary will know he cannot dodge the question for very long. wages grew faster than expected in the three months tojuly, as they continue to outstrip the cost of living for the fourth month in succession. official statistics show that pay, excluding bonuses, rose by 2.9% during the period, while unemployment has continued to fall, remaining at its lowest level for over a0 yea rs, as our economics correspondent,

andy verity, reports. the firm that runs this construction site in salford has no shortage of work. but a shortage of skilled workers is a growing problem. until this year, its subcontractors could find the staff they needed easily, mostly from the rest of the european union. we‘ve got albanians working on here now but the dry liners, joiners, tilers tend to be eastern european. so, in some instances, when they leave, it gets very, very difficult to entice the british workforce back on to the sites. from the construction firms‘ point of view, the labour market is on fire. even though profits are tight, they have to fight to keep their workers with pay rises of 10% or 20%. if they don‘t, they may leave before the work is complete. mid—contract, people come along waving their chequebook and we lose tradesmen. there‘s a lot of tradesmen work on a building contract. it‘s an old—fashioned business. and keeping those people on site, on a tight programme, on tight margins, that‘s the challenge.

last year, pay rises fell behind price rises, meaning your money brought you less and less. but, in the spring of this year, inflation dropped and pay improved, as that squeeze on living standards loosened its grip. the supply of new workers is slowing down in other industries, too, and staff asking for more pay can play a stronger hand. there are now more vacancies in the economy than there have been for 17 years, especially in industries like restaurants and hotels. that‘s one reason workers have been able to push up their pay by an average of £14 a week, taking the average wage to £a89 week. that works out at £25,400 a year. i think there has been a persistent puzzle why workers have not been able to demand higher wage growth, despite the fact the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest since the mid—19705. so, we would have expected wage growth to pick up a lot more than it has done so far.

with unemployment at a 15—year low, there are now more than 830,000 vacancies, and many of them simply won‘t be filled. one side—effect, you may sometimes have to wait a little longer to get served. andy verity, bbc news. workers in the so—called gig economy — such as shopworkers, cab drivers and delivery workers — shouldn‘t have to live with the levels of insecurity they currently experience with zero—hour contracts. that‘s the view of the shadow chancellor, labour‘sjohn mcdonnell, who told the trade unions in manchester that a future labour government would make casual staff eligible for sick pay, maternity leave and other benefits. our political correspondent, iain watson, has more details. take just a short car ride across manchester and you‘ll see just how much this so—called gig economy touches our everyday lives. if you have a snack, order a takeaway, see a new building going up around you, you‘re probably seeing someone who‘s in insecure employment.

for some people, irregular hours work. you can start any time you want, you can stop any time you want. the flexibility and freedom is really good. had one person‘s flexibility is another‘s insecurity. the unions say nearly 4 million people don‘t have a regular, full—time employment contract. labour is coming up with new policies and the shadow chancellor came to the tuc to promise new rights for those in the gig economy. we will extend full rights to all workers, entitling everyone in insecure work to sick pay, maternity rights and the right against unfair dismissal. and, he said, workers would be given a new financial stake in their companies and thatjob protection would apply from an employee‘s very first day at work. when you begin to look back, you take a day off, you're going to be let go. ruth and charlie are members of the gmb union and have both been in casual employment. ruth works in a care home and welcomes labour‘s plans to extend sick pay.

people who are ill are going into work being ill and then transferring it through the whole company and then if you're working in a care home or anywhere else, you're dealing with residents and then that can lead to death. charlie liked the idea of greaterjob protection. when you aren't being offered hours, or there's not any regular hours, you want as much work as you can get, and being told halfway through the day you're no longer required, you know, for a lot of people that's pretty soul crushing. some businesses are warning that labour‘s plans for more rights could lead to fewerjobs. it‘s mainly going to affect those businesses who already struggle to recruit enough people because of things like profits and such like that. if they have to improve the rights of those workers, it obviously makes them much more difficult and much more of a burden on the employer. after a summer of bad headlines, labour wants a fresh start. expect a whole range of policy announcements to come your way soon. but, as the party releases more detail, they can also expect greater scrutiny. iain watson, bbc news, manchester. mark carney, the governor of the bank of england, has agreed to remain in post

until january 2020 — 17 months longer than expected. the chancellor, philip hammond, told mps that mr carney would serve a little longer to ensure continuity through what he said "could be quite a turbulent period" for the economy next summer, after britain leaves the european union. our economics editor, kamal ahmed, is here. what is your reading of what has been announced today?“ what is your reading of what has been announced today? if you think about the chancellor of the jet, he has a pretty hefty inbox with lots of envelopes in the inbox marked troublesome. he has brexit negotiations and how they will go, where he will find the money for the nhs which has been promised. we will find out more about that in the budget later in the year. and he has, find another governor of the bank of england in the middle of these pressures at a time when our relationship with the european union, the financial services just

like everything else which mark carney is in charge of this very unclear. mr hammond spoke about continuity. that is shorthand for, cani continuity. that is shorthand for, can i get this problem pushed off into the long grass? he has done that today. mark carney said he wa nted that today. mark carney said he wanted to see a successful brexit. that is someone who says that. many critics say mr hammond will welcome the letter from mr carney today. the big point is this that the decision for this delay means that the search for this delay means that the search for the next governor does not have to start until after britain is scheduled to leave the european union in march of next year. thank you. still on the brexit the... the chief executive of jaguar land rover has warned that tens of thousands ofjobs are at risk in the uk if the government fails to secure what he called the "right" brexit deal. ralph speth said a poor deal would cost his company more than £1 billion and would force it to consider moving jobs and production to another part of europe.

our deputy political editor, john pienaar, is at westminster. a real sense again today from different quarters that the pressure is mounting on the prime minister. absolutely. the prime minister is anxious to avoid a hard brexit. it cannot have been comfortable for her to go to birmingham promoting british carmaking and then hear warnings from the boss of jaguar land rover like that. she also has opposition from hard—line brexiteers accusing her of selling out. it is a bit like a famous dance on a tightrope in a high wind. some of them are keen to end her time in number10. them are keen to end her time in number 10. they were out in force. borisjohnson no number 10. they were out in force. boris johnson no doubt fancies number 10. they were out in force. borisjohnson no doubt fancies her job. he was there as well. the message was there is nothing to fear. if britain has to leave and

fall back on world trade organisation rules, prices could fall by 8% over 15 years and britain could be richer. tomorrow they will be setting our ideas of avoiding a border on the island of ireland after brexit. could there be no deal? downing street insists there could be one. the chief negotiator says it could happen in a few weeks if all sides are reasonable but still the deadlock continues. some quietly imagine what could be a giant fudge in which the big decisions are put off until after brexit day. as of now there is no sign of that and the government, as the chancellor put it, is working ha rd the chancellor put it, is working hard against the clock. many thanks, john. the inquests into the deaths of five people killed in the westminster terror attack last year has heard how an american tourist saved his wife by pushing her out of the path of the vehicle driven by khalid masood. kurt and melissa cochran had only been in london for two and a half hours before masood

launched his attack last march. mr cochran was killed but his wife survived, as our home affairs corrspondent, daniel sandford, reports. it was a task no wife would want. melissa cochran, still limping from her own serious injuries, arriving to give evidence at the inquest into the death of her husband, who she now calls her hero. she told the court they‘d been touring europe to mark their wedding anniversary. they had just been to westminster abbey and had only been in london for two and a half hours. they‘d almost crossed the bridge when khalid masood began his attack. it was just after 20 to three. she spent three and a half weeks in hospital in london but kurt died as big ben struck three o‘clock. schoolteacher kylie smith was in westminster that day with a group of teenage pupils.

kurt and melissa had caught her eye as they walked hand in hand when suddenly she heard the revving of masood‘s car. in tears at times, she told the inquest... she saw kurt knocked into the air by the car, and then chaos on the bridge. she told her pupils to run. they all made it safely home. it was on this pavement at the end of the bridge that kurt cochran heroically pushed his wife out of the way before being struck full on by the vehicle. one witness today described seeing him flying through the air and landing on the embankment below where, despite the efforts of a nurse, a paramedic and a doctor, he died soon afterwards. the next fatal injury was to leslie rhodes, a retired window cleaner who was walking away from the car when he was hit, turning at the last moment when he heard the revving. he died the next day from a head injury. lawyers for his family asked why the emergency helicopter was not

used to take him to hospital, as the people treating him on the bridge were originally expecting. the helicopter team ended up treating pc keith palmer, who was dying nearby from stab wounds. daniel stanford, bbc news, at the old bailey. belgium‘s interior minister has asked the uk for more help in dealing with human traffickers, who are moving refugees and migrants to the uk. overnight, almost a hundred alleged traffickers were detained in raids in belgium but some local police and politicians claim these operations are a waste of time. most of those detained are released within hours. this report from our europe correspondent, damian grammaticas, contains some flashing images. it‘s the motorway to calais, the route to london. every few nights now, belgian police scour the truck stops. since security in the channel ports has tightened, this is the new front line against the people smugglers.

belgium‘s police forces say they are overstretched by the scale of the work. we do everything to catch the smugglers but, at the same time, all those thousands of people who desperately want to find a new future, we don‘t know how we can help them. nearby, officers checking ids found 21 people, most eritrean asylum seekers. they are eligible for refugee status in belgium but it is the uk they want to reach. looking on, belgium‘s interior minister. being tough on migration is one of his signature policies. he believes the real problem is that the uk has no id card system. refugees think they will be able to live unhindered there. today it‘s a little bit the wild west. in the uk? yeah, in the uk because it‘s easy to build up a new life without identity in fact. and that‘s different here,

now, in our country. but almost all those detained are released within hours and this is where they end up. a park in brussels. belgium doesn‘t want to take on the task of processing all their claims. the resulting cat and mouse game pushes many towards the smugglers. it‘s an unuseful game with a lot of damages. there is a lot of violence. for the smugglers, it‘s easier to make pressure on the migrants to give money, to give a bigger amount of money, to put more people in the same truck so the pressure on migrants is bigger and stronger. so the local mayor has now instructed police in his area not to waste their time arresting and releasing the same migrants every few days. it would be better, he says, for the government to house them and deal with their cases. they need to eat. they need some place to rest, they need some place to stay. not stay in the streets,

not staying in the stations. it's a problem for the population, it's a problem for the areas where they live, for brussels in general and the federal government offers no solution for that. but belgium‘s government says the problem is most migrants don‘t want to stay here, they want to get to the uk. so, it says it is hoping for more cooperation from the uk to deal with this issue. and it says it will be making that point to british ministers. damian grammaticus, bbc news, brussels. there‘s been a rise in the number of staff vacancies in the nhs in england. the figure went up by 9,000 in the three months to the end ofjune to more than 100,000. the total workforce isjust over a million. nhs improvement, which monitors the health service, says it‘s because of rising patient demand, more staff leaving, and the difficulty of recruiting new staff, especially nurses. we can go to our health editor, hugh pym, who‘s outside university college hospital.

hugh, what does this say about the state of the nhs? the figures underlined the continuing and relentless pressure on the nhs and rising patient numbers and trusts in england have tried to deal with it by recruiting more staff but they have found that increasingly difficult. that is why do we have this vacancy figures published today because england in the nhs of more than 107,000, up on previous quarter and up on the same time the previous year. if you look at nurses and midwives, one area of problems with recruitment, the va ca ncy problems with recruitment, the vacancy rate, the percentage of the workforce at where those are unfilled, was an elite 12% in april tojune unfilled, was an elite 12% in april to june period compared unfilled, was an elite 12% in april tojune period compared with below 1196 tojune period compared with below 11% at the same time last year. the regulator, nhs improvement, says these vacancies will continue to rise and is a one factor is more people leaving the nhs and health

leaders are saying that is partly down to low morale and stress levels and it is a very concerning issues. what about the finances of the nhs in england? we have learned the underlying deficit for all trusts for the whole year will be £45 billion. we have never had that figure before god stripping out one of financial support factors and thatis of financial support factors and that is the difference between the money coming into hospital trusts and what they have to spend on rising levels of patient care. thank you very much. a brief look at the day‘s other stories. the bbc‘s director—general has said the policy of providing free television licences for those aged over 75 is to be reviewed. speaking to a parliamentary committee, lord hall said he couldn‘t guarantee the subsidy would continue in its current form after 2020. the bbc agreed to shoulder the full cost of free licences from that date, as part of its funding deal with the government. hundreds of thousands of people have flooded the streets of barcelona to mark catalonia‘s national day.

it‘s the first since catalan leaders were prevented from declaring independence from spain. demonstrators demanded the release of catalan politicians who are accused of offences including rebellion. a million people living near florida‘s coast have been ordered to evacuate their homes, as hurricane florence threatens the state. the storm — which will make landfall on thursday — could bring winds of 130 miles—an—hour and up to 30 inches of rain in some places. new guidelines are due to be introduced in england for social workers who look after children‘s interests when pa rents have separated. for the first time, the guidance will explicitly include the possibility that children who say they don‘t want to see one of their parents could have been alienated or deliberately turned against one parent by the other. that possibility will be an issue forjudges to consider in some family court cases. our family and education editor, branwenjeffreys, has the details. for some children, home is at the centre of court battles.

mum and dad at war over access. sometimes it‘s easierfor a child to stop seeing their other parent. parents like anna, whose story we are telling anonymously. i know i have been cut out of photographs. i know the children have to refer to me by my first name. i‘m being treated as if i‘m dead. in fact, worse than dead. anna has faced false allegations. a colleague said, "the police are in reception asking for you." i immediately thought there‘d been an accident. my first words were, "are kids ok?" the police said they‘d had an allegation, that i was harassing my ex. i was bewildered and crying my eyes out. so i signed their document. later i complained. the police apologised and removed it from record. it‘s because of cases like this

that the advice to social workers is being changed. when a child refuses to see one parent, they will be considering why and one of the options will be parental alienation. that‘s when a child has been deliberately turned against one parent by the other. the child can react by feeling the only way of staying safe is to side with one parent and reject the other. what is the lifelong effect on a child? well, we know it can affect their mental health, it can affect their emotional stability, their educational attainment. there's a sense of one half of you being bad. if you buy into that belief of sort of an all—good, all— bad parent and you're having to agree that the other parent is all negative, then that's one half of you, one half of your identity. the courts have to put the interests of the child first. in some cases, alienation has been considered.

the aim now is for a more consistent approach. not everyone will be happy with these guidelines. some campaigners for dads‘ rights have argued for a long time that social workers and the courts have been too slow to recognise this. but others fear there are risks if you move too far away from listening to what a child says they want. if you make an accusation of alienation, it almost automatically casts suspicion on anything that the child might say so the child may not want to see their mum or their dad because they're, you know, authoritarian or abusive or they've never been interested in the child. and the child may say, "you know, i'm not keen on seeing them," and that can be for perfectly good and genuine reasons. for children who are alienated, the impact can be lifelong. for parents, the heartbreak hard to bear. i‘m missing out on every minute of every day.

every morning they‘re my first thought. every night they‘re my last thought. i miss them. i can‘t even explain how much i miss them and it‘s torturous. it‘s living hell. branwenjeffreys with that report. football, and england managed a narrow win in their friendly match with switzerland tonight. marcus rashford scored the only goal of the game at the start of the second half, bringing a three—game losing streak to an end. and northern ireland were easy 3—0 winners against israel in belfast, with 22—year—old substitute gavin whyte scoring their third goal with his first ever touch in international football. hampden park is to remain the home of scottish football after the sfa agreed to pay its owners, queen‘s park, £5 million for the stadium in glasgow. the governing body had considered moving internationals and some scottish cup matches from hampden

to murrayfield in edinburgh, following an offer from the scottish rugby union. the national team have played home matches at hampden park since 1906. cricket, and england have beaten india by 118 runs to win the fifth and final test at the oval. it completes a 4—1 series victory. james anderson made history by setting a new record for test wickets taken by a pace bowler, as our correspondent, joe wilson, reports. in recent times, english cricket has built floodlights and left the highlights to james anderson — notjust his hair! but look at india! the final day of the english international summer became a belated celebration of their batting. kl rahul‘s 100 featured his full range of flicks and tricks and, after all that emotion of monday, for england, this was, yes, back down to earth. alistair cook was there on patrol, fielding, reflecting,

and generally watching an extraordinary exhibition of youthful exuberance. this is how rishabh pant arrived at his first test match 100. he‘s gone for it. he‘s got it. well, conditions here did feel decidedly september—ish and, when the floodlights are on and the sky is grey, that‘s normally a james anderson kind of day. anderson wanted one wicket to become the most successful fast bowler in history. india were not playing along with that. so, step forward adil rashid. rahul bowled for 149 then young pant chanced his arm once too often. moeen ali is under that, isn‘t he? got it. now the race.