Will new PM step up for children?

Today, a new Prime Minister enters Number 10, accompanied by the usual fanfare of promises to make life better for people across the country.

Here at the National Children’s Bureau, our attention will not be on those grand visions and the chatter those pledges generate over the coming weeks, but on the concrete actions that will make a real and lasting difference for those most at risk.

While the Conservative Party has spent the summer focussed on who will be its new leader, children and their families and carers have had to cope with the stress of exams, anxiety about how they will pay their bills, and the fear that health and social care services may not be able to provide the support they need. Uncertainty has spread through the system as important legislation on children’s social care, special educational needs and disabilities, and online harms has been thrown into doubt.

We’re already seeing that the pressure to reduce energy bills is forcing some families to switch off machines vital for their children’s wellbeing for several hours a day. And the cost of living crisis is accelerating: one-in-six households (4.4 million) are now in serious financial difficulties, compared to one-in-ten (2.8 million) just 10 months ago.

It is shocking that in a wealthy country where the privileged few are able to enjoy a life of luxury, so many families are struggling to put food on the table. Children who missed out on early learning and school as a result of the pandemic now face being left further behind.

For those at the sharp end – the thousands of children whose needs aren’t being met and the families struggling to support those children after three years of disrupted learning and social isolation – it’s exhausting.

For those of us who support children, young people and their families and work in a system that is fracturing and too often not fit for purpose, it’s demoralising. Not least when we unearth evidence that the local authorities facing the biggest cuts are the ones with the greatest demand for services.

It doesn’t have to be like this.

Over the last ten years…

• We’ve brought together expert organisations to inform consultations on health, social care and education;

• We’ve made numerous submissions and provided evidence of the harm experienced by children;

• And we’ve brought young people to Westminster and ensured their voices are heard by Ministers and sympathetic, well-intentioned and hard-working civil servants.

And while we wouldn’t agree with all their findings or recommendations, some progress has been made, the Family Hubs Transformation Fund, the SEND green paper and the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care represent a sound starting point to meet the needs of all children. We’ve also welcomed initiatives like Start for Life and a more prominent role for children within Integrated Care Systems. But we can’t afford to lose any more time.

After all the consultations, the pledges and the promises, we have simply seen too little action and we are still being asked to make the case for investment in early support and the sort of services that can make the difference between families staying together or falling apart.

It’s hard not to conclude that the most vulnerable children and young people, whose needs aren’t easily met by schools, who find themselves on waiting lists for health services for years on end and whose families struggle to cope but don’t get picked up until it is too late - don’t matter to our political leaders.

There will be a general election within two years and NCB will be challenging all the political parties to set out their commitment to children and young people with a long-term plan of action that ends child poverty and supports all children to thrive.

Our new Prime Minister has the chance to demonstrate that they have the courage, vision, and morality to protect children whose families will struggle to put food on the table, to deliver their party’s own children’s services reform agenda, to strengthen the children’s workforce, and to fulfil their promise to meet the mental health needs of all children and young people.

Our country is in crisis. The very least we can ask for is action, not empty promises.

Anna Feutchwang is the chief executive of the National Children’s Bureau (NCB). This blog was first published on the NCB website.