Delivering in Government: your weekly round up of good news Labour stories

It was a busy week for the Labour government.

While Andy Burnham has begun to lay out his plan for government, individual departments have been hard at work fixing the country’s underlying problems.

Here are the seven most exciting breakthroughs and announcements this week that you can use, whether you’re on the doorstep, sparring on social media, or debating in the pub.

1. Ending NHS strikes

Resident doctors have voted to accept Labour’s pay deal, ending the walkouts.

Doctors will move on to a new salary structure with more frequent rises as they gain skills, leaving them 35.2% better off on average than four years ago.

Up to 4,500 extra training places will also be created, giving more doctors the chance to progress into senior roles. It means the NHS can focus on cutting waiting lists, which are already over 400,000 lower than in June 2024.

2. Getting young people into work

Labour is offering employers a grant for every unemployed youngster they recruit.

The Youth Jobs Grant opened for applications this week. Businesses can claim £3,000 for hiring an 18-to-24-year-old who’s been on Universal Credit and looking for work for at least six months.

It’s expected to help up to 60,000 young people into a job over the next three years. Merlin Entertainments, which runs Legoland and Alton Towers, is among the first big backers.

3. Decriminalising homelessness

Labour repealed the law that made rough sleeping an offence.

The Vagrancy Act dates back to 1824 and punished people for not having a home, leaving them facing fines or a criminal record and pushing them away from support.

The repeal sits within Labour’s Plan to End Homelessness, backed by £3.6 billion over the next three years, and aims to halve long-term rough sleeping by the end of this parliament.

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4. £9,000 off a heat pump

Labour is boosting the grant for families ditching their oil boilers.

From 21 July, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant rises from £7,500 to £9,000 for households that rely on heating oil across England and Wales. Leaflets are landing on the doormats of 200,000 eligible homes this week explaining how to claim.

Oil-heated households have faced some of the most volatile energy costs in the country, without the protection of the price cap. Switching to a heat pump shields families from fossil fuel spikes and gives greater certainty over bills.

5. Longer sentences for domestic killers

Labour will make people who murder a partner or ex serve more time in prison.

Sentencing for most domestic murders currently starts at 15 years because the weapon is usually already at the scene, while those who bring one with intent face 25 years. Labour intends to close that gap so domestic murders are treated with the same severity as any other.

The existing 15-year baseline will still apply where a victim of domestic abuse kills their abuser, and the change is subject to consultation with the Sentencing Council.

6. Reuniting young people with lost savings

Labour has launched a drive to reunite young people with unclaimed Child Trust Funds.

More than 750,000 young adults have a matured account they’ve never claimed, worth £2,200 on average. The funds were opened for every child born between September 2002 and January 2011, and many people simply don’t know theirs exists.

A new taskforce brings together the Treasury and providers including Nationwide and HSBC UK to trace the owners. Anyone who thinks they have one can use the government’s Find a Child Trust Fund tool.

7. More transparency for benefits claimants

Labour is recording all face-to-face and telephone health assessments as standard.

The change covers PIP, Work Capability Assessments, and Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit. Under the old opt-in system, fewer than 3% of claimants had their assessment taped, and now it happens automatically unless someone chooses otherwise.

Recordings will be available to anyone appealing their award and will be used to improve the quality of assessments.

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