File on 4 Investigates

With a growing number of compensation claims arising from cases of historic sexual abuse and more recent high profile cases of sexual grooming, Tim Whewell investigates the key role which insurance companies play. In representing the local authorities where scandals occurred, insurers naturally seek to limit liability but are they doing so at a cost to victims? Lawyers say they have to battle to get access to files and other information - causing further distress and delaying help for those damaged by abuse. Some say the fight is getting harder as insurance companies have toughened their approach in recent years. And, with a national inquiry into historic cases of child sex abuse, how much influence did insurance companies have on the way some past investigations were carried out? File on 4 talks to senior local authority insiders who say they were told to alter their approach to abuse investigations to protect the insurers' interests. But was that at the expense of children at risk?

Satellite images reveal the extent to which sites of important historical interest have been looted in Syria. Some of these are in areas controlled by Islamic State where looters are believed to pay a tax to allow them to operate. Iraqi military say evidence from a senior IS member revealed the group is making millions of pounds from the trafficking of looted antiquities

Around 28 thousand people are claiming asylum in the UK. They're accommodated in some of the nation's most deprived areas while their cases are considered. Now, with numbers on the rise, some communities say they're struggling to cope. Allan Urry reports from the Northwest of England where, in some areas, there's concern about growing pressures on health services and schools. In Liverpool the City's Mayor, Joe Anderson, talks of an asylum "apartheid" and says other towns and cities need to take a fairer share. In Rochdale in Greater Manchester, there are more asylum seekers than the whole of the south east of England. The local MP Simon Danczuk says he's worried the pressures could undermine the good community relations that have always existed in the town.

Reporter: Allan Urry

Where have all the nurses gone? File on 4 looks at the reasons for the nursing shortage in the NHS in England and the cost of plugging the gaps at a time of peak demand.

Benefit sanctions are supposed to be part of a system helping people back to work. But critics say they penalise the vulnerable and are among the reasons for the growing use of food banks. So how fair is the Government's system of withholding state payments for those who don't comply with welfare rules? Allan Urry hears from whistleblowers who allege some JobCentrePlus staff are setting claimants up to fail in order to meet internal performance targets. Why did a recovering amputee lose his benefits because he didn't answer the phone?

Reporter: Allan Urry Producer: Nicola Dowling.

With serious assaults at a record high, File on 4 investigates the growing tension within Britain's prisons.

In the first of a new series, BBC Home Affairs correspondent Danny Shaw meets recently released prisoners and families of those inside to hear about their safety fears.

And he talks to the Prison Officers Association about their concerns for the frontline members who they say are facing unprecedented levels of pressure and danger in a "chaotic" system.

The Howard League for Penal Reform has used Ministry of Justice figures to calculate that around 40% of prison officer jobs have been cut - leaving inmates spending longer locked in their cells and less time preparing for their release.

Lawyers and campaigners tell File on 4 that overcrowding and gang activity are adding to a "toxic mix" of problems leading to instability and tension.

Twenty five years after the prison system was shaken by a series of riots centring on Strangeways in Manchester, is a new crisis starting to unfold?

Reporter: Danny Shaw Producer: Sally Chesworth.

Is demand for long term nursing about to tip NHS finances over the edge?

Under the system of "Continuing Healthcare" people with complex medical needs can claim the costs of nursing and medical help to keep them out of hospital. But the system has become mired in controversy with many people claiming they've been denied funding to which they are entitled.

Now there's a deluge of backdated claims against Clinical Commissioning Groups.

File on 4 finds the backlog is creating long delays in new assessments of patients.

And it hears claims the assessments themselves are a postcode lottery, with the chances of being deemed eligible varying wildly between GP commissioning groups.

The programme also hears evidence of NHS commissioners and councils fighting each other not to take responsibility for patients.

Patients and their families are going to the health ombudsman in their hundreds.

18 clinical commissioning groups are already going to end the year in the red, with some threatened with being put in special measures over their finances. Now they owe millions of pounds in backdated claims, plus interest.

Is this creating an incentive to squeeze spending on continuing care? GP commissioners are about to be asked to put £1.9 billion into the pot for new joined-up health and social care services. Do they have the money, or the will, to buy into joined-up care?

Reporter: Jane Deith Producer: Nicola Dowling.

The UK generates nearly 300 million tonnes of waste every year. That's rich pickings for criminals who illegally dump what we don't want, damaging the environment and threatening our health. The black market in rubbish is said to be worth a billion pounds. With such huge sums at stake there's concern that organised crime is increasing its grip on the sector. Allan Urry examines the efforts of Britain's Environment Agencies to try to hold the line. But it's tough going at a time when cuts have led to a reduction in staffing.

Recent high-profile collapses of high street names such as Comet, Phones4U and other companies have left thousands of people out of work and have cost the taxpayer millions in statutory redundancy payments and unpaid taxes. This week File on 4 goes behind the headlines to examine the role of the companies' private equity backers. Were these failed businesses which were bound to have to close? Or might they have survived for longer under different ownership? Fran Abrams investigates.

As inquiries into child abuse in Rotherham continue, File on 4 investigates claims of a hidden problem of sexual abuse within Britain's Asian communities.

While the victims of recent grooming scandals have mostly been white girls, campaigners say Asian boys and girls have also been subjected to abuse over many years.

Male and female survivors tell Manveen Rana there's a powerful culture of denial stopping many speaking out and getting justice. They say communities too often close ranks and ostracise or threaten those who complain, while leaving perpetrators to carry on.

Reporter: Manveen Rana