Panorama - the big squeeze

With the cost of living rising fast and wages falling behind, Panorama unveils new research which shows that most of us are significantly poorer than we were two years ago. Reporter Andrew Verity reveals which jobs are being hit hardest, just how many of us are likely to be tipped over a financial cliff if interest rates go up, and he gets tips from the experts on how we can fight The Big Squeeze.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOC69QYWPB8

Panorama - disability and back to work

Disabled or faking it?

BBC Panorama investigates the government's plans to end the so-called 'sick note culture' and their attempts to get millions of people off disability benefits and into work. In Britain's modern welfare state, millions are being paid to private companies to assess sick and disabled claimants but is the system working? Or are new tests wrongly victimising those who deserve support the most?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Npuh4im0jY

The great disability scam?

Only half of all people with a disability are in work. Panorama investigates if one of the government's most ambitious welfare reforms, costing billions of pounds, can solve the problem of disability unemployment. Reporter Sam Poling reveals the private companies who are getting rich from the new reforms despite only being able to get a small fraction of disabled people back to work, and speaks to the charities who feel the most vulnerable in our society are being failed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8g57CMMLjs

BBC documentary - a job to get work

With the government promising a welfare revolution, getting people off benefits and into work, Panorama visits the seaside resort of Rhyl in North Wales. In some parts of the town, nearly half of the adult population are on benefits.

The programme follows the real life stories of some of the unemployed there, and asks the government whether this battle can really be won.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yctGH7zl7h8

Panorama - the great disability scam

Only half of all people with a disability are in work. Panorama investigates if one of the government's most ambitious welfare reforms, costing billions of pounds, can solve the problem of disability unemployment. Reporter Sam Poling reveals the private companies who are getting rich from the new reforms despite only being able to get a small fraction of disabled people back to work, and speaks to the charities who feel the most vulnerable in our society are being failed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwV3DTaCo4A

Panorama - disabled or faking it?

Panorama investigates the government's plans to end the so-called 'sick note culture' and their attempts to get millions of people off disability benefits and into work. In Britain's modern welfare state, millions are being paid to private companies to assess sick and disabled claimants but is the system working? Or are new tests wrongly victimising those who deserve support the most?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lldrc

Panorama - trouble on the estate

Drugs, anti-social behaviour, family break-ups and joblessness: all part of life on Britain's poorest housing estates. Filming with families, kids and police, as well as undercover with drug dealers, Panorama spent months on one estate in Blackburn finding out what it's like to live and grow up there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sm5VSo43JM

Panorama documentary - All Work and Low Pay

With millions of people enduring pay freezes and cuts, the national minimum wage is supposed at least to guarantee that pay cannot drop below a legal minimum level. But as the adult rate rises to £6.08 an hour, Panorama goes undercover to reveal how some employers exploit loopholes or get round the rules so workers do not even get paid that minimum. And it speaks to others, especially the young, who feel they are being forced to accept low - or even no - pay just to get work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuUqLxEjvWc

Panorama video - The Cost of Raising Britain

With nurseries and childminders costing families up to With nurseries and childminders costing families up to a third of their income, and working mums feeling squeezed out of the workplace, Panorama investigates the rising cost of childcare. Shelley Jofre meets a family who moved abroad for a better deal, and reveals why budget cuts are forcing some parents to consider taking over their own nurseries. (R)a third of their income, and working mums feeling squeezed out of the workplace, Panorama investigates the cost of childcare. (R)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLFhi6WNQ-c

Panorama - the great apprentice scandal

With one in five young people out of work, life for many is just one long rejection letter. The government believe that apprenticeships offer a way forward and promise a million more by next year at the cost of more than a billion pounds of public money. But what is the reality behind the return of the apprentice?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzZD5Bj0OdU

Panorama - Return of the real apprentices

Panorama follows the fortunes of four young people searching for work in Swindon. The programme first met them in 2007 and set them real-life Apprentice-style work challenges, with dramatic results. Since then the recession has struck, and hit Swindon - and their prospects - hard. How have they responded?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s5xsn

Panorama - how much the top people in the public sector get paid

How much do top people in the public sector really get paid - council chiefs, headteachers, policemen, even the BBC's own bosses? Panorama reveals the results of the most thorough and extensive investigation ever conducted into their pay, using the Freedom of Information Act to contact over 2,400 organisations. Thousands of people receive bigger salaries from the taxpayer than the Prime Minister; are they actually worth it?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ty5db

Is Britain full?

Panorama investigates just how overcrowded the UK actually is. The latest official population projection has it rising over the next twenty years to 70 million. If it does, everybody will feel the effects - from where we live to where our kids go to school.
Some argue that the extra population, much of it made up of new immigrants, will help boost the British economy, but will it? And what can politicians actually do to stop the growth?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s35k6

Panorama - when is the right time for a baby?

What's the best age to have a baby and are we facing a population crisis? The BBC's presenter Kate Silverton discovered how more women are waiting to have a baby later in their lives but some run the risk of leaving it too late to conceive.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_5110000/newsid_5110100/5110150.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&news=1&nol_storyid=5110150&bbcws=1

Panorama - working long hours

Panorama examines Britain's long-hours culture and asks children what they think of their parents working lives - with some remarkable results.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_4660000/newsid_4662300/4662320.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&news=1&nol_storyid=4662320&bbcws=1

Panorama - ageism in the workplace

Panorama investigates ageism in the workplace and reveals the remarkable findings of a study into age discrimination.
The programme also examines how new legislation will change the way we work in the UK, from removing dates of birth from job applications to banning unacceptable ageist banter in the office.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_4900000/newsid_4902700/4902716.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&news=1&nol_storyid=4902716&bbcws=1

Panorama - Britain's new immigrants from Eastern Europe (2005)

Panorama documentary: Immigration is high on the political agenda; last May the Government, controversially, said that workers from eight new member states of the European Union could work here, legally.

Over the period of a year Panorama has filmed the reality of economic migration, following 11 East Europeans who came to the UK seeking work.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_4500000/newsid_4507400/4507424.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&news=1&nol_storyid=4507424&bbcws=1

Panorama - What future for Kurt?

Panorama investigates whether the government can fulfil its goal of ending "postcode poverty" within two decades. Following Kurt's family as they try to work their way out of a poor estate in one of Britain's most prosperous counties.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_4370000/newsid_4372500/4372598.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&news=1&nol_storyid=4372598&bbcws=1

Panorama - Life after Woolies

When the high street retail giant Woolworths closed down in January, 27,000 people found themselves out of work. The collapse of one of the country's iconic high street names provided dramatic evidence that the UK was heading towards a recession. Since the closure of the company's 807 outlets, Panorama has followed former Woolies staff from across the country as they desperately try to escape the burgeoning ranks of the unemployed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00jw6tf/Panorama_Life_After_Woolies/

Panorama - Real Apprentices

Britain's booming, says Gordon Brown - so how come so many young people can't - or won't - get jobs? Panorama meets four young men from Swindon trying to break the habit of unemployment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6970000/newsid_6977700/6977729.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&news=1&nol_storyid=6977729&bbcws=1

Return of the real apprentices - an upate:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s5xsn

2010 update - http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8645000/8645027.stm