The first domestic violence specialists have been placed in 999 control rooms in memory of a woman who was murdered by her ex-husband despite ringing police on the night she died.

Raneem’s Law has been launched in five pilot areas – West Midlands, Northumbria, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Humberside.

The legislation – promised in Labour’s manifesto – is named after 22-year-old Raneem Oudeh and her mother Khaola Saleem, 49, who were murdered by Ms Oudeh’s ex-husband in August 2018.

Ms Oudeh had called 999 more than a dozen times in the months leading up to her death, including to report threats to kill her, but police did not log the reports correctly, did not follow up and did not assess them correctly.

On the night she was killed, she rang 999 four times but the police did not respond in time.

The new domestic abuse specialists will ensure that calls for help are properly assessed, managed and responded to, the government said.

Their duties will include advising on risk assessments, making referrals to specialist services and identifying missed opportunities to safeguard victims.

The first phase will inform plans for a national rollout across 43 police forces in England and Wales and will be underpinned by £2.2m funding over the next financial year.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Every 30 seconds, someone calls the police about domestic abuse – over 100 people every hour seeking urgent help.

“That’s why we are determined to overhaul the police emergency response to domestic abuse, making sure that victims get the specialist support and protection they need. That must be Raneem and Khaola’s legacy.”

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On the night she died, Ms Oudeh was told to go to her mother’s house and officers would visit her the next day. She was on the phone to West Midlands Police when she was stabbed by Janbaz Tarin, her estranged husband, one of the many calls she had made about him that night.

Ms Oudeh had broken up with her husband in the weeks before the attack after discovering he had three children and a secret wife who was pregnant with a fourth child in Afghanistan.

Tarin admitted the murders and was jailed for life with a minimum of 32 years in December 2018.

An inquest found the police force “materially contributed” to their deaths. Five officers were disciplined over the failures.

Nour Norris, Ms Oudeh’s aunt and Mrs Saleem’s sister who has been campaigning to improve outcomes for domestic abuse victims, said today’s announcement would help save lives.

“Raneem called for help, and today, the system finally answered,” she said.

“I can’t express enough how deeply emotional and significant this moment is.”

Parents who are entitled to hours of free childcare should not have to pay mandatory extra charges to secure their nursery place, the government has said.

Updated guidance from the Department for Education states that while nurseries are entitled to ask parents to pay for extras – including meals, snacks, nappies or sun cream – these charges must be voluntary rather than mandatory.

The guidance, which comes amid concerns that parents have faced high additional charges on top of the funded hours, also states that local councils should intervene if a childcare provider seeks to make additional charges a condition for parents accessing their hours.

Since September last year, parents and carers with children aged nine months and older have been entitled to 15 hours of government-funded childcare a week, rising to 30 hours for three to four year-olds.

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From this September, the 30 hours of care will be made available to all families – a rollout that was first introduced under the previous Conservative government.

However, there have been concerns that in order to subsidise shortfalls in funding, nurseries have charged parents extra for essentials that would normally have been included in fees.

Under the new guidance, nurseries will be now obliged to clearly set out any additional costs parents will have to pay, including on their websites.

It says invoices should be itemised so parents can see a breakdown of the free entitlement hours, additional private paid hours and all the additional charges.

‘Fundamental financial challenges facing the sector’

Representatives of childcare providers welcomed the announcement but pointed out the financial stress that many nurseries were under.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said: “While we fully agree that families should be able to access early entitlement hours without incurring additional costs, in reality, years of underfunding have made it impossible for the vast majority of settings to keep their doors open without relying on some form of additional fees or charges.

“As such, while it is absolutely right that providers should be transparent with parents on any optional additional fees, today’s guidance does absolutely nothing to address – or even acknowledge – the fundamental financial challenges facing the sector.”

He added: “Given that from September, government will control the price of around 80% of early years provision, it has never been more important for that funding to genuinely reflect the true cost of delivering places.

“And yet we know in many areas, this year’s rate increases won’t come close to mitigating the impact April’s National Insurance and wage rises, meaning that costs for both providers and families are likely to spiral.”

In last year’s budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the amount businesses will pay on their employees’ national insurance contributions will increase from 13.8% to 15% from April this year.

She also lowered the current £9,100 threshold employers start paying national insurance on employees’ earnings to £5,000, in what she called a “difficult choice” to make.

Last month a survey from the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) found that cost increases from April will force nurseries to raise fees by an average of 10%.

The survey, covering nurseries in England, revealed that staffing costs will increase by an average of 15%, with respondents saying that more than half of the increase was due to the national insurance decision in the budget.

Purnima Tanuku CBE, chief executive of the NDNA, said “taking away the flexibility for providers around charges could seriously threaten sustainability”.

“The funding government pays to providers has never been about paying for meals, snacks or consumables, it is to provide early education and care,” she said.

“Childcare places have historically been underfunded with the gap widening year on year.

“From April, the operating costs for the average nursery will go up by around £47,000 once statutory minimum wages and changes to national insurance contributions are implemented. NIC changes have not been factored into the latest funding rates, further widening the underfunding gap.”

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The Department for Education said its offer to parents meant they could save up to £7,500 on average when using the full 30 hours a week of government-funded childcare support, compared to if they were paying for it themselves.

In December, the government also announced that a £75m expansion grant would be distributed to nurseries and childminders to help increase places ahead of the full rollout of funded childcare. 

Local authority allocations for the expansion grant will be confirmed before the end of February. Some of the largest areas could be provided with funding of up to £2.1m.