The DWP is sending debt recovery letters this week to former benefit claimants, as new enforcement powers come into force including the potential suspension of driving licences for those who owe at least £1,000 and refuse to repay.

The Department for Work and Pensions has been granted fresh powers to impose sanctions on individuals who have ceased claiming benefits but remain in debt to the department. From now on, the DWP will be authorised to recover funds directly from bank accounts and, in severe instances, can request a court to revoke offenders’ driving licences.

The updated regulations are designed to target fraudsters and debtors who “refuse to pay” their outstanding debts to the DWP. Individuals who may be impacted by these measures should begin receiving correspondence this week, urging them to “get in touch and pay up”.

Work and Pensions Minister for Transformation Andrew Western said: “Hardworking taxpayers deserve a system that pursues those who deliberately dodge their debts, and that is exactly what these new powers deliver. To anyone with an outstanding debt – our door is open and DWP will always work with you to find an affordable way to repay.

“But for those who can pay and won’t – we’re going further than ever before to claw back cash and crack down on fraud.”

The DWP’s complete range of new powers will be progressively introduced from October, allowing those who owe the Department merely four months to settle their debts or establish an affordable repayment arrangement before this cut-off point. Anyone receiving these letters is strongly advised to respond without delay, with official guidance indicating that individuals can prevent the full implementation of these new powers by simply contacting the DWP, reports the Mirror.

The department also notes that staff are able to signpost people to free debt support services where necessary. Those who owe money to the DWP and currently receive benefits will typically repay these debts via deductions from their future payments.

However, when individuals continue repaying these debts but cease claiming benefits, it becomes increasingly difficult for the DWP to recoup the outstanding funds. The driving ban can only be imposed on those who owe the DWP a minimum of £1,000 and have no essential requirement for their licence — for instance, if they rely on their vehicle for work as a courier.

Those facing a ban will initially have their licence suspended only for as long as repayment terms are kept to. Cabinet Office Minister Satvir Kaur said: “Fraud against the public sector and unrecovered debt deny our vital frontline services of the funding they deserve.

“Under these new powers in the PAFER Act, this Government will deliver on its promise to protect hardworking taxpayers and clamp down on those who try to cheat the system.”

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — A little flick of Gonzalo Plata’s big toe helped Ecuador make a great escape.

Plata poked the ball past Manuel Neuer in the 77th minute and lifted Ecuador to a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Germany on Thursday and into the knockout round of the World Cup for the first time since 2006.

“Life is different now. We suffered a lot,” said Plata, a 25-year-old winger who scored his ninth international goal. “We suffered too much in the first two matches. We would have liked to secure qualification much earlier, but now we’re going forward more hungry, knowing we have to give it our all.”

Ecuador, which has lost only one of its last 22 games, finished third in Group E with four points and advanced past the group stage for the second time, headed to a possible matchup with Mexico on Tuesday in Mexico City.

A four-time champion already assured of advancement by winning its first two games, Germany will play its round of 32 game Monday at Foxborough, Massachusetts, most likely against Paraguay, Australia or Sweden.

“On Monday it’s important that we start well,” Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann said through a translator.

Germany’s winning streak was stopped at 11 games, one shy of the team record set in 1979-80.

“The difference was today that the opponent wanted to win more than us, and you could really feel it, especially in the second half,” Germany midfielder Joshua Kimmich said.

Germany went ahead on Leroy Sané’s second-minute goal. Aleksandar Pavlović chested the ball and ended up kicking Pedro Vite in the head following Nathaniel Brown’s throw-in, but American referee Tori Penso didn’t whistle a foul. Pavlović passed to Florian Wirtz, who centered to Sané just inside the penalty area to beat goalkeeper Hernán Galíndez.

Nilson Angulo equalized in the ninth minute with Ecuador’s first goal of the tournament following a 1-0 loss to Ivory Coast and a 0-0 draw with Curaçao. Felix Nmecha lost the ball in midfield to Vite. The midfielder passed to Angulo, who dribbled toward goal and beat Neuer to the far post from just outside the area.

Penso originally awarded Germany a penalty kick less than 30 seconds into the second half after Joel Ordóñez took down Kai Havertz, but a video review ruled Sané had first fouled Vite.

With the crowd tensing as time ran down, Plata scored after Vite’s corner kick was nodded on by Kevin Rodríguez, who was 6 yards out at the near post. Neuer, the 40-year-old Germany goalkeeper who ended two years of international retirement for the World Cup, was about to grasp the ball when Plata raised his left foot and stabbed it into the net.

Sebastián Beccacece, an Argentine who has coached Ecuador for two years, sprinted to the front of the stands, his shoulder-length blond hair flowing, to hug his wife, Patricia Persson. He had been pilloried after the poor start and paraphrased a lyric from Argentine rock band Los Redondos.

“In loneliness you cannot always listen to what you hear. You just keep pushing forward. You ignite your fire and you continue,” he said.

A crowd of 80,663 at MetLife Stadium was mostly in Ecuador’s yellow. FIFA said it boosted attendance to a record 3,587,539 in the 56th game of the expanded World Cup, one more than the 52 matches for the 1994 tournament in the U.S.

“We felt at home in all these stadiums,” Rodríguez said.

Ecuador had prepared to return to its training camp in Columbus, Ohio, rather than head home to South America.

“They told us: `You will be back here,’” he said. “The staff in the kitchen, in the spa, even the drivers.”

Ecuador isn’t sure of its next opponent or even where the match will be played, so fans can’t lock in travel just yet.

“I hope they brought plenty of clothes in their luggage,” Plata said.

___

This story corrects the name of the Argentine rock band to Los Redondos.

___

AP Sports Writers Eric Núñez and Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.

___

See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Officers are diverting traffic flow via the Boyhill Road

Advertisement

A busy road through Maguiresbridge is closed in both directions after a serious crash.

Northern Ireland Road Policing and Safety has advised driver that the Belfast Road is closed early on Friday, June 12, due to a serious road traffic collision.

Officers are diverting traffic flow via the Boyhill Road.

With delays expected while emergency crews work at the scene, drivers are advised to take a different route if possible while the road remains closed.

NI Road Policing and Safety said in a statement: “Road users are advised the Belfast Road, Maguiresbridge is closed in both directions this morning, Friday 26th June, due to a serious road traffic collision.

” Officers are diverting traffic flow via the Boyhill Road. Please seek an alternative route for your journey at this time.”

Rodríguez addressed the nation on state television channel VTV more than two hours after the quakes.

Prior to that, official information had been very scant, no doubt due to the fact that communication channels to some of the worst affected areas were down. But it is also a result of restrictions placed on independent media under the Maduro government, which have led to the closure of hundreds of mainly local radio stations and news sites, which in the past would have been key to providing localised updates.

Rodríguez was flanked by her brother Jorge, who in his role as president of the National Assembly swore her into office as interim president just days after Maduro was seized, and by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, another staunch Maduro ally.

Unlike he so often did in the months leading up to the US military intervention, Cabello was not wearing military fatigues. He stood silently next to Rodríguez, as did her brother.

Rodríguez was visibly shaken as she delivered her speech, in which she called “first and foremost” for unity from the Venezuelan people, who for more than a decade have been deeply divided between those who supported Maduro, and his predecessor and mentor Hugo Chávez, and those who opposed him.

She also declared a state of emergency and tasked General Juan Ernesto Sulbarán, the commander of Venezuela’s National Guard, with leading the emergency response.

During the more than a quarter century that Chávez and Maduro were in power, key positions in the government have been held by high-ranking military officers.

Many state ministries have for years been in the hands of generals, and analysts have said that part of the reason why Venezuela’s infrastructure has become so run down is the lack of expertise of those in charge.

Under the watchful eyes of the Trump administration, Rodríguez has recently replaced the general running the ministry of housing with a civilian who has a degree in architecture and the general who headed the electricity ministry with an electrical engineer.

However, years of shortages – exacerbated by US sanctions – and mismanagement have meant that much of the public housing stock in particular has deteriorated.

A shortage of cement, for example, triggered by the collapse of the state-owned cement industry after its nationalisation under Chávez, has meant that badly needed repairs have often not been carried out on buildings and home, making them more prone to collapse.

Claire Walker told Teesside Crown Court how Isabelle Welsh “was the worst [she] had seen her” just a day before she suffered fatal head injuries at her Thornaby home.

The two-year-old’s mother, Alexander Walker, and her new boyfriend, Harrison Simpson, are on trial accused of murder after she suffered a fractured skull and a bleed on the brain.

The grandmother’s police recorded interview was played to jurors as evidence in the trial, which is listed to last six weeks.

Isabelle Rose Welsh (Image: Family handout)

During the interview, she told detectives Isabelle had suffered a broken leg weeks before she died.

Miss Walker recounted how the toddler looked pale when she visited her daughter but believed she was struggling with a virus.

She said “she was the worst I had seen her” when she visited her the day before Isabelle died.

Miss Walker said Isabelle was also complaining about her stomach hurting but thought it was because she had been ‘throwing up’.

Struggling to contain her emotions during the police interview, she said she “is going to regret it for the rest of her life” that she didn’t take Isabelle to the doctors on that day.

When asked about Isabelle’s health and wellbeing in the weeks leading up to her death, Miss Walker told the officers she spotted a bump on her head, bruising around her spine and a ‘fingerprint’ bruise on her hip.

The jury heard how Isabelle was found unconscious at her home when paramedics were called, and they discovered the two-year-old was “gravely unwell and her heart had stopped beating”.

Dan Ackroyd, Walker’s stepfather, told the police he had tried to perform CPR when he arrived at her home before paramedics took over and managed to restart her heart.

When asked by Mark McKone KC, representing Walker, how she was acting when he arrived at her home, Mr Ackroyd said she was ‘visibly shaking’ and crying.

Despite the best efforts of medical staff, the toddler died in the early hours of September 14 after suffering a fractured skull and brain damage.

Jurors were told Isabelle suffered 21 fractures, including a fatal one to her skull, as well as enduring significant sexual abuse in the weeks leading up to her death.

Earlier in the trial, the jury heard how Walker searched online, checking for any information about Simpson being a child sex offender.

Tributes to Isabelle Welsh were outside her Thornaby home (Image: TERRY BLACKBURN)

The court had heard the pair had only been in a relationship for a few months when Isabelle suffered all of her injuries, including the fatal skull fracture.

Simpson, 22, of Greenham Close in Thorntree, Middlesbrough, and Walker, of Hartington Close in Thornaby, deny murder.

The pair also deny four other charges involving Isabelle, including: causing or allowing the death of a child on September 14; two counts of assault by penetration between September 10 and September 14 last year; and cruelty to a person under 16.

The trial continues.

Emergency services remain at the scene of a police incident on the A4232 heading towards the M4. Drivers were seen attempting to cool off outside their cars on what has been the hottest ever June day in Wales after the crash on Thursday evening.

At 11pm the carriageway between the Leckwith Interchange and A48 Culverhouse Cross remains closed. The police did say earlier that the road is expected to remain closed for some time.

The police have urged drivers to avoid the area and use alternative routes.

A statement from South Wales Police said: “Emergency services are at the scene of a road traffic collision on the A4232 Cardiff. The southbound carriageway is closed at Culverhouse Cross. Please avoid the area and seek alternative routes.”

Councillor for Caerau Peter Bradbury wrote online: “There is currently a police incident on the A4232 between Leckwith and Culverhouse Cross. The road is currently closed at Leckwith whilst emergency services are in attendance.

“Further information when available. The road is expected to be closed for some time.”

Find the latest updates below.

Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice.

The temporary order will run until Saturday after youths started fights and harassed members of the public

Police have slapped a dispersal order on Gorton after reports of youths fighting and harassing innocent members of the public in a recent spate of anti-social behaviour.

Greater Manchester Police implemented the section 35 order on Thursday night (June 25) to run until 5.30pm on Saturday (June 27). The temporary measures give officers the powers to exclude a person or group from a specified area.

The area includes Gorton Train Station, Hyde Road, Matthews Lane, Gorton Lower Reservoir and Pink Bank Lane. Police said the measures were necessary following ‘recent incidents of anti-social behaviour’ including fighting and people being harassed on Thursday.

Click here to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter

Inspector Zac Campbell, of Greater Manchester Police, said: “This order has been implemented to provide further powers for officers in the area to deal with anti-social behaviour affecting our communities

.

“Anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated and where this is reported to us, we will look to take action – either through proactive action including arrests or preventative problem-solving work alongside our local partners.”Anyone with information about criminality or incidents of anti-social behaviour is asked to contact police via 101 or our Live Chat function on gmp.police.uk. Always call 999 in an emergency. Alternatively, you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111

Morrisons has issued an urgent recall on a fan-favourite pasta product due to an undeclared allergen risk

Advertisement

An urgent recall notice has been issued for a popular pasta product sold at Morrisons over an undeclared allergen risk, according to the UK Food Standards Agency.

The supermarket is pulling its Coronation Chicken Pasta from shelves after it emerged that some packs may contain Florida Salad, which includes milk that is not listed on the packaging.

This means the product poses a potential health risk to anyone suffering from an allergy or intolerance to milk or milk constituents. The specific batch affected weighs 230g, carries an expiry date of June 30, 2026, and has the batch code GBB 584 031.

Shoppers who have purchased the product and have a milk allergy or intolerance are urged not to eat it and to return it to their nearest store immediately.

The Food Standards Agency has issued a recall notice stating: “Morrisons is recalling the above product from customers and has been advised to contact the relevant allergy support organisations, which will tell their members about the recall. The company has also issued a point-of-sale notice to its customers.

“These notices explain to customers why the product is being recalled and tell them what to do if they have bought the product.”

For full details on all product recalls, the Food Standards Agency and Chartered Trading Standards Institute websites are trustworthy sources of information.

In addition, recall notices should be prominently displayed in stores where a product has been withdrawn from sale, reports Chronicle Live.

A boy aged 14 has been charged with murder by Gwent Police after a female body was found during the search for a girl missing in south Wales.

The boy from the Blaenau Gwent area, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was remanded in police custody to appear before Newport Magistrates Court later on Friday.

The white British boy was arrested after the body was found in the Duffryn Park area of Blaina on Monday.

The body has not been formally identified but police believe it to be that of a girl, 14, named only as Lilly, who had been reported missing.

“Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Lilly at this difficult time,” Detective Chief Inspector Steven Thomas said in a statement, external.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X, external to get the latest alerts.