Dispatches - Season 31 / Year 2016

Dispatches investigates missing and broken mail and the people who are responsible for it.

Greg Wise explores how he as a priveleged man can meet a tax-planner and avoid paying a large amount of tax each year.

Morland Sanders investigates the increasing demand on the ambulance service and how response times are calculated.

Morland Sanders investigates hidden pollution hotpots in our everyday lives.

Simon Cox looks at how easy it is for terrorists to exploit stolen antiquities on the streets of the UK.

The episodes explores who are the ones who are winning and losing in one of the most controversial housing poliices in decades.

This episode explores the housing crisis and homelessness, and how it is on the rise in Britain. The episode will reveal the numbers and scale of rogue landlords, confronting those exploiting the benefit system to make millions from supplying poor accomdatation.

It's six year since Britain's beloved Cadbury was bought by American giant Kraft. As the Easter chocolate indulgence approaches, the episode will explore what's been happening to one of our favourite brands.

Missed visits, not being washed or dressed for days, waiting hours for your dinner and mistakes made with medication. Many older people in this country are facing serious problems with their home care. For Dispatches, Jackie Long investigates the fate of some of Britain's most vulnerable pensioners, who rely on council-funded home care. Working as a frontline carer, an undercover reporter discovers an overstretched service, concerns about pay not meeting the minimum wage and workers cutting short appointments and falsifying log books. Dispatches sets up hidden cameras in one pensioner's home to find out more about the standard of care she receives. The introduction of the living wage means care costs could soar, at the same time as care budgets have been slashed. The industry body, representing care companies, now warns that the market is increasingly unviable.

The row over cuts to welfare benefits has rocked the Government to its core. Iain Duncan Smith resigned, attacking his own department's plans to cut disability benefits as balancing the books on the back of the poor and vulnerable. George Osborne has backed down; the cuts have now been put on ice. But the new benefit that prompted the row - Personal Independence Payment - is still going ahead. Hundreds of thousands of disabled people are now having to apply for this new benefit and many claim it is deeply unfair. Former Paralympian Ade Adepitan investigates and, using secretly recorded material, reveals some disturbing sides to the new benefit.

As the war against Isis intensifies and Syrian troops retake Palmyra, here in the UK the battle to stop the terrorist group cashing in on looted antiquities is being waged on the streets of the capital and beyond. Dispatches investigates how easy it is for terrorists to exploit this trade. Investigative journalist Simon Cox has been tracking the antiquities business in Britain for the last eight months. Together with a group of leading archaeologists, Cox has gone undercover to investigate this lucrative business and test the rules designed to regulate it. He finds a world of dubious provenance and questionable deals in the heart of London and on the Internet. He also looks at what Isis is doing to World Heritage Sites in territory it holds. How much are the two be linked? Cox examines how much of what is looted might be being sold in the UK, and what the authorities are doing to stop it.

It's that time of year, when dreams of a summer escape will soon be just an air ticket away, if only you can find the best price. Dispatches goes undercover to learn the secrets of a major player in the travel trade. Are the lowest fares all that they seem? Are you getting the best deal? And if your plans need to change, how will you be treated? Harry Wallop uses secret camera footage to test the promises of the travel business.

In a unique and important investigation, Dispatches has gone undercover inside one of Britain's largest and worst performing children's services departments, where social workers are battling to keep vulnerable children safe. For several years, Birmingham City Council's Children's Services has been criticised for failing children, and in 2013 was described by Ofsted's Chief Inspector as a 'national disgrace'. Birmingham has faced 27 serious case reviews over the last 10 years. Earlier this month, a woman was found guilty of brutally murdering 18-month old baby Keegan Downer, who Birmingham's Children's Services had placed with her after Keegan was removed from her drug-addicted birth mother. Keegan is just the latest of several children killed in the city in recent years by those supposed to be caring for them. Birmingham City Council has insisted that sorting out its Children's Services is a top priority, and claims that substantial improvements have been made.

Dispatches investigates the impact of the National Living Wage. Introduced earlier this year, it was supposed to mean a pay increase for some of Britain's poorest workers, but is everyone really getting richer? Morland Sanders meets the staff who have been threatened with the sack if they don't sign new contracts which would make them poorer. Dispatches finds some of Britain's biggest companies cutting perks and privileges and goes undercover to investigate the businesses offering wages far lower than the new ú7.20 an hour minimum.

Racist abuse is on the rise in post-Brexit Britain and increasingly it's being caught on camera. In particular, Muslims are bearing the brunt of the xenophobia, in person and online. Seyi Rhodes investigates this rising tide of racism, revealing the scale of the abuse, and uncovers dramatic recordings of physical and verbal attacks.

Post-Brexit it's been a scary few weeks for the UK economy. Many company pension schemes are already in deficit and falling long-term interest rates are now adding further pressure. Will there be more companies like BHS who struggle to meet their pension commitments? Former accountant Shaunagh Connaire investigates the implications for your retirement.

David Cameron says the expansion of the academy school system is one of the greatest achievements of his time as Prime Minister. Billions of pounds of taxpayers' money now flow directly into academy trusts. Dispatches reporter Antony Barnett investigates the finances behind these schools and discovers big salaries and generous expenses. From the American consultant on sky-high rates, to the cost of your new school uniform, Dispatches reveals the secrets of the academy expansion.

Following the car emissions scandal last year when some manufacturers admitted they manipulated the results of exhaust tests, reporter Morland Sanders investigates if we can trust manufacturers and testers with car safety. With new evidence that some cars might not perform as well in real crashes as their safety rating suggests, Dispatches asks: could more be done to protect drivers and passengers? He also looks at the recall system and finds that the discovery of a fault doesn't always mean an immediate recall.

Picking our food, cleaning our toilets and packing our parcels... With Brexit a reality, Dispatches looks at who will now work in Britain's low paid jobs if cheap EU workers are no longer in plentiful supply. Could the answer be found in mainland Europe? Reporter Morland Sanders finds a shadowy workforce which is helping to fund one of the world's most repressive regimes: North Korea. He investigates claims that North Koreans are already working to supply British companies from the continent. He also asks if they could end up working here in our fields and factories when no more cheap European labour is available.

Many people in Britain dream of owning their own home, but the reality is many of them never will. Harry Wallop investigates the failure to build enough houses in the UK. He finds out what happened to a much-heralded government plan to sell off enough public land to build 100,000 new homes, and discovers deals done with big developers at a potential loss to the taxpayer: plans for luxury hotels and high end apartments. Harry also finds large areas of sold-off land sitting empty, while millions of people can't find an affordable home to buy. With home ownership in England at a 30-year low, just how committed are the government to easing the housing crisis? And what plans are actively in place to solve the problem?

Antony Barnett investigates the Labour Party, just days before the declaration of whether Jeremy Corbyn has retained his leadership.

Dispatches investigates the anti-abortion movement in the UK.

Can't afford a house? Haven't got a pension? Don't expect a pay rise? If so, you're probably part of Britain's younger, struggling generations. The wealth gap between young and old has become a defining feature of our times; in this special Dispatches, Spectator Editor Fraser Nelson investigates just how divided our country has become. Nelson reveals new figures showing the extent of the gap and investigates its causes. He speaks to leading politicians and hears fears from the top of Government that older voters have effectively been kept sweet at the expense of the young.

The government promised to fix so-called neighbours from hell with its Troubled Families Programme, but Dispatches meets families who say it has had no real impact

With personal debt at an all-time high, Morland Sanders asks if more could be done to help families kick the spending addiction.

British men are Europe's fattest, our women the second fattest. Millions of children are overweight. So why's Downing Street diluted its obesity strategy?

Many are struggling to find a home; a reason why is too few houses are being built. Liam Halligan probes developers deliberately holding back land to maximise profits.