The NHS has for the first time published league tables ranking every trust in England.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has said each trust will be ranked quarterly on the standards of its services, from urgent and emergency care to elective operations and mental health support.

The tables see trusts categorised in four segments, with the first reflecting the best performers and the fourth showing the worst.

Those doing the best will be rewarded with greater freedoms and investment, while those underperforming will receive targeted support.

To allow for fair comparisons, the trusts ware grouped into acute (short-term treatment, usually in a hospital), non-acute (maintenance or long-term care) and ambulance trusts.

Use the tools below to see how yours rank:

This will help end the postcode lottery, says Streeting

The move is part of the government’s 10-year plan to reform the health service.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “We must be honest about the state of the NHS to fix it.

“Patients know when local services aren’t up to scratch, and they want to see an end to the postcode lottery – that’s what this government is doing.

“We’re combining the extra £26bn investment each year with tough reforms to get value for money, with every pound helping to cut waiting times for patients.”

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From next year, the NHS will introduce a new wave of Foundation Trusts, giving the best performers more freedom to shape services around local needs, and those in the middle will be encouraged to learn from the top trusts.

Meanwhile, those with lower scores will receive enhanced support – and senior leaders will be held accountable with performance-linked pay.

Where trusts are persistently failing, senior managers could see their pay docked, the DHSC has said.

The best NHS leaders will be offered higher pay to taken on the toughest jobs at challenged services, it added.

Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, said: “Letting patients and the public access more data will help to drive improvement even faster by supporting them to identify where they should demand even better from their NHS.”

It will also put “more power in their hands to make informed decisions on their choice of provider”, he said.

By summer 2026, the tables will expand to cover integrated care boards, which are the NHS organisations responsible for planning health services for locals.

Two water companies have been fined a combined £86.8m over sewage-related failures.

Industry watchdog Ofwat – itself set to be scrapped as part of a shake-up of oversight in the sector – said Anglian Water and its shareholders faced a redress package of £62.8m.

The penalty for South West Water stood at £24m.

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The pair are the latest firms to face financial consequences for breaching obligations in the operation of their wastewater treatment works and networks.

Ofwat said that both failed to operate, maintain and upgrade their wastewater assets adequately to ensure they could cope with flows of sewage and wastewater.

The reports also criticised the processes and management at the companies, including board level oversight.

The regulator said its five wastewater investigations to have concluded this year had resulted in enforcement action worth more than £240m.

Much of the cash goes towards storm drain improvements and local projects aimed at restoring river eco systems.

Lynn Parker, senior director for enforcement at Ofwat, said: “Our investigations found failures in how Anglian Water and South West Water have operated and maintained their sewage works and networks, which has resulted in excessive spills from storm overflows.

“These are serious breaches and are unacceptable.

“We understand that the public wants to see transformative change.

“That is why we are prioritising this sector-wide investigation, which is holding wastewater companies to account for identified failures.

“We are pleased both companies have accepted that they got things wrong and are now focusing on putting that right, and taking action to come back into compliance.”

Household bills are on the rise, at inflation-busting rates, over the next five years as the industry – including cash-strapped Thames – scrambles to make the necessary improvements to its infrastructure.

The major creditors at Thames are currently trying to convince the government and Ofwat of their operational and ownership plans to take control of the business through a new vehicle called London & Valley Water.

Firms are also under pressure to save more water, through leak prevention and improved storage capacity, as climate change presents challenges in terms of extremes.

While storm drains have been unable to cope with vast volumes associated with heavier storms, rainfall has been scarce since spring with the UK seeing its hottest summer on record.

Reservoir stocks are below average levels for this time of year widely and hosepipe bans remain in force across many areas of England, especially in the East.

Parents in England will receive the new-look Ofsted report cards from November as part of wide-ranging changes to the way schools are inspected, but the plans have come under fire with calls to delay them.

The reforms were initiated following a difficult period for Ofsted, after the death of headteacher Ruth Perry last year.

Ms Perry took her own life after her Reading primary school was downgraded from “outstanding” to “inadequate”, prompting criticism of the inspection system.

The new reports will use a colour-coded, five-point grading scale, giving families more detail on areas such as attendance, behaviour and inclusion.

Ofsted says the system will provide “greater nuance” than its previous one-word judgments. The grades will range from “urgent improvement” and “needs attention” up to “expected standard”, “strong standard”, and the top mark of “exceptional”.

But the new inspection framework has been criticised by some. A coalition made up of school leaders, former inspectors, trade unions and Ms Perry’s sister, Professor Julia Waters, is calling for the government to delay the changes.

Speaking on Sky News this morning, Prof Waters said: “There are, very much, high-stakes consequences for a poor judgement. Head teachers will still fear that they might lose their job and they have no redress.

“The Parliamentary enquiry into Ofsted’s work with schools recommended that the government investigate and look into other school accountability systems in high-performing countries that do not cause the kind of absolutely intolerable pressure, literally intolerable pressure, on school leaders and teachers.

“Ofsted and the government have chosen to ignore that advice and plough ahead with what are really just cosmetic changes to the existing system which has been proven to pose a threat to life.

“They have not taken the warnings of the coroner at my sister’s inquest properly, they have not listened to Parliament and they have not listened to the majority of the teaching profession and they have certainly not listened to my family and I.

“Whether there’s a need for rankings? I don’t believe there is a need for rankings. Of course there is a need for parents to have a reliable sense of what their local school is like. I have never argued, no sensible person has ever argued, against accountability and inspection can play a role in that.

“But it has to be a system that does not put the wellbeing and potentially lives of hard-working teachers and school leaders at risk. That is not in the interests of children and their parents.”

Additional monitoring inspections will be carried out in schools and colleges that fall below the expected standard, with Ofsted insisting this will ensure action is taken quickly to raise performance.

In early years settings, inspections will take place every four years instead of every six, with a sharper focus on the quality of education and care.

Inspectors will also assess how well schools support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and those known to social care, with inclusion given its own grade.

Contextual factors will also contribute to the judgements that are made, including the number of children who are eligible for free school meals, and any other socio-economic factors which influence the outcomes for children.

To ease pressure on staff, an extra inspector will be added to school inspection teams.

His Majesty’s chief inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, said the changes were designed to “reset relationships” with teachers while maintaining public confidence.

“Children deserve the best possible education; their parents deserve the best possible information, and education professionals deserve to have their work fairly assessed,” he said.

“Our new report cards will give parents a clearer understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement at the places where their children learn.

“We will work with professionals in schools, early years and further education to help them showcase the best of what they do and help them identify where they can improve.”

New system ‘makes things much worse’, says critic

But the new inspection framework has been criticised by some.

A coalition made up of school leaders, former inspectors, trade unions and Ms Perry’s sister, Professor Julia Waters, is calling for the government to delay the changes.

In an open letter, they said: “Today’s announcement is deeply disappointing and extremely worrying, as it is clear Ofsted have failed to learn the lessons from the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.

“The proven life-threatening risks associated with a grades-based schools accountability system, based on public shaming and the fear of high stakes consequences, have not changed.”

They are calling for the roll-out to be halted because of “continuing concerns about the reliability, accuracy, and consistency of inspection results” and “the dangerous, negative impact of a punitive, grades-based inspection system on the welfare of the workforce”.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “Sir Martyn Oliver has failed. He was asked to bring in a system that reduced pressure.

“Removing the single word judgement was meant to be a powerful revolution, but this makes things much worse. More of the same. More pressure. More ranking and competition. More labels.”

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However, a YouGov survey commissioned by Ofsted found nearly seven in 10 parents preferred the new format to the current reports, while nine in 10 said they were easier to understand.

Jason Elsom, chief executive of Parentkind, the UK’s largest parent charity, said: “For the first time, parental engagement is given clear priority: no school will be able to achieve top marks unless it demonstrates that it has got this right. This is a significant step forward.”