The UK government has promised to “crack down” on care companies restricting families from visiting relatives with learning disabilities, following an ITV News investigation.
The Care Minister told me govt is looking at changing the law to strengthen visiting rights www.itv.com/news/2026-03...
My new book Left to Rot is available to pre-order right now at Waterstones with a 25% discount, for a limited time only.
Use the code FEB26 between today and this Friday. www.waterstones.com/book/left-to...
🔺Investigation: Families of severely learning disabled people in care have told us they’re being restricted or banned from visiting them after complaining about negligent care.
We spoke to 50 families about the increasing use of contact restrictions. A worrying trend. www.itv.com/news/2026-02...
Looking forward to reading this.
Daniel is one of the best and most relentless reporters on the UK’s housing crisis.
Missed this at the time but very interesting and revealing bit on Steve Reed's philosophy re council housing in this interview by @danielhewittitv.bsky.social - thinks it isn't aspirational and just for the neediest (with no aim to change that). Opposite of Rayner's "social housing revolution":
Late to this but it's not going away:
Errors in NHS/govt recording of cause of death among learning disabled people - avoidable deaths underreported. A review btw launched in a 'world first' blaze of glory many years ago.
Important from @danielhewittitv.bsky.social
www.itv.com/news/2026-01...
Britain’s housing crisis is getting worse and symptomatic of a deeper problem of how governments have failed to protect public services and people who rely on them.
My book Left to Rot is a 4 year investigation into what has gone wrong.
Out June 2nd, pre-order now www.amazon.co.uk/Left-Rot-Gov...
"I think if you wanted to create a housing crisis you would have just done to the letter what we've done in Britain for the last 45 years"
@danielhewittitv.bsky.social earlier this week at our event on the the UK's growing crisis of child homelessness
Full video ➡️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=taox...
Three years on this report @danielhewittitv.bsky.social and I made is still a stark reminder of how the cost of living persists to hit hardest amongst our poorest communities youtu.be/czmJvQCEnbE?... 1.2m views and counting
90,000 words later and I have finally handed in my first book. Excited/petrified at the thought of people reading it.
It’s out next year and you can pre-order it now at Waterstones, Amazon and all the usual places.
More details here: www.waterstones.com/book/left-to...
Rahima deserves to be heard.
People with a learning disability are dying 20 years younger than the general population, for those from an ethnic minority group it’s 25 years.
Rahima knows why. She has a learning disability & cerebral palsy. She speaks using a computer, but she is so often ignored.
Incredibly powerful piece on News at Ten from @danielhewittitv.bsky.social tonight on preventable deaths of people with learning disability. Made more powerful by his (naturally) barely contained anger and frustration at the blatant injustice and lack of will to change.
There is nothing about having a learning disability that means you are physically more likely to die so young, and yet learning disabled people are dying 20 years younger than the general population
It is a scandal that is barely improving. Our latest report. t.co/O8apCmquhE
I understand the annual LeDeR report, which reviews deaths of learning disabled people in England, will be published imminently.
Expected to show almost no change in the average age learning disabled people die, which is currently 20 years younger than the general population.
Lib Dem leader @eddavey.libdems.org.uk met with them and fully supports their call for cameras to be mandatory in all call settings.
His son is disabled and is cared for at home. He told Lindsay and Sylvia: “One day I won’t be here, my wife won’t be here and he may well be in a care home."
Lindsay contacted me with secret footage of her disabled son being neglected in a care home, eating from a bin.
Sylvia saw the report and emailed us with footage of her blind son in a different home.
They'd never met, now they're campaigning together for law change.
www.itv.com/news/2025-06...
Well done @danielhewittitv.bsky.social on your @basw-uk.bsky.social Social Work Journalism Awards win! Thank you for working with SWU to show how rising poverty & the housing crisis are piling pressure on services trying to protect the vulnerable.
Watch the report: swu-union.org.uk/2024/12/soci...
Was a privilege to be a finalist in the Amnesty Media Awards last night for our podcast documentary The Trapped.
Humbled to be in the company of the best and bravest journalists imaginable.
You can listen here:
Spotify open.spotify.com/episode/5WfY...
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Subpostmasters have said the Post Office should pay for therapy and counselling “for life” due to the trauma caused by the Horizon IT Scandal.
Victims and families say those who need support should not have to wait for compensation or use their own money to pay for help
www.itv.com/news/2025-05...
Our investigation into dangerous, appalling conditions of homes in Croydon led to the council being placed into special measures in 2021.
Only now, 4 years on, has the social housing regulator judged the council’s housing to be safe and acceptable. It removed the special notice yesterday.
🔺We‘ve uncovered new allegations of neglect at UK’s largest provider of complex care for disabled adults
More than 80 people contacted after our investigation into private care company Lifeways
One council has now placed the company in special measures t.co/p5jCN5QmEZ
Delighted our podcast is a finalist in the Amnesty Media Awards, and among such prestigious company.
The Trapped is my first documentary podcast series and it was a privilege to make, and bring our investigation to a new audience.
Listen here podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
Honoured to win the Royal Television Society award for News Coverage for a second year in a row, this time for our investigation into the Post Office.
It was and is a privilege to cover, and to stand on the shoulders of great reporters who first exposed this scandal.
Health Secretary calls for investigation into care company after ITV News investigation, writes @danielhewittitv.bsky.social
www.itv.com/news/2025-03...
NEW: More families speak out about the care their relatives received by Lifeways
David, who has autism and is non-verbal, was subject to “neglect and organisational abuse” by the private care company in 2024
Health Secretary Wes Streeting now wants Lifeways investigated www.itv.com/news/2025-03...
@danielhewittitv.bsky.social ‘s reporting whilst a hard watch - is for me the epitome of journalism at its best. He researches and reports on subjects almost too horrific to comprehend but without this nothing would be done. I really hope it brings change - thanks Dan #ITVNews
Thank you so much
Disabled people are being neglected in homes run by one of the UK’s largest private care companies, with one vulnerable resident filmed eating out of a bin and another left with an untreated infection causing his foot to rot, as @danielhewittitv.bsky.social reports
www.itv.com/news/2025-03...
Lifeways is the UK’s largest provider of supported living for adults with complex needs.
Last year it’s revenue rose to £295 million.
It’s CEO - who I interview in this film - earns £923,000.
Yet we have exposed serious neglect of disabled people across multiple services.
