'Absolute paralysis of Brexit' impacts children in need

The Department for Education's Help, protection, education; concluding the Children in Need (CiN) review published today shines a light on the 1.2 million pupils who have been under the care of social services and who do not pass their maths and English GCSEs, children's commissioner Anne Longfield claims.

Fewer than one in five of the 1.6 million children who have been supported by a social worker pass their GCSEs in maths and English, which the commissioner describes as "shocking".

Writing on her blog, she claims the review, which was a 2017 Conservative manifesto pledge, "sets out a compelling narrative" for boosting the life chances of these children.

Longfield welcomes the DfE's pledge to introduce an annual updating of CiN figures, as well as plans to make schools more inclusive.

She praises the DfE report for highlighting how disadvantage can go beyond income, with addiction or parental mental health issues affecting children's likelihood of going into care, and identifies the need for better local working across education, social care, health, police and youth services to "break the cycle of disadvantage".

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However, Longfield adds that the "elephant in the room" question of how these children will be helped in future is one which "largely goes unanswered" by the report, prefaced by Education Secretary Damian Hinds.

She states: "But while I am pleased that the CiN review recognises the scale, changing nature and impact of disadvantage on many children's lives, the big question we should all be asking is: what are you going to do about it?

"The education department cannot resolve these problems alone - it requires cross-Whitehall focus and funding; it needs early help, social care and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services to be provided to these kids.

"All that requires money."

In a strongly-worded criticism of Brexit's role, Longfield states: "It is three years since Brexit became the national political priority - three years in which half of the youngest children in need have grown up failing to meet their early development goals, a lifetime disadvantage.

"While the Westminster manoeuvring continues, on and on interminably, government itself has ground almost to a halt and the prospects for many of these kids remains wretched.

"Soon we will have the third Prime Minister of my tenure as children's commissioner.

"More departmental upheaval could follow, and the chance to get a grip of tackling childhood vulnerability delayed again.

"Incredibly, we still don't know for sure when the next spending review will occur. It should already have happened. We hear it might be in the autumn; it might cover one year not three; it depends on Brexit."

The approaching cliff edge for the government's Troubled Families programme in March 2020 is highlighted by Longfield as among the promising initiatives awaiting support of the spending review.

Jenny Coles, vice-president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services, praised the good multi-agency practice by local areas which is highlighted in the report, but added: "It would be helpful if this could be mirrored at a national level."

The Early Years Alliance described as "hugely disappointing" the report's lack of "any significant reference to the early years".

Neil Leitch, the Alliance's chief executive, said: "The report makes clear the importance of the early years in the future health, wellbeing and job prospects of children in need - but it never goes beyond that recognition.

"Instead, we're left with the usual lines ministers trot out about record spending and vague promises about training for health visitors at a time when their numbers have fallen well below demand.

"The children this review aimed to support deserve better. And if the government is serious about transforming the lives of some of our most vulnerable children, it needs to change its entire approach to the early years."

Key findings of the Children in Need review

• At least 1.6 million children have needed a social worker between 2012/13 and 2017/18
• This is equivalent to 1 in 10 of all children in 2018 having ever needed a social worker, at some point currently or previously over the six years
• Almost two-thirds of children who were looked after in 2017/18 had been on a Child in Need plan at some point in the previous five years and nearly 40 per cent had been on a Child Protection Plan
• Children who have ever needed a social worker are present in 98 per cent of schools
• Only 500 schools do not have a single pupil known to have been in need at some point between 2012/13 and 2017/18
• Children who have needed a social worker do significantly worse than others at all stages of education
• Those on a Child in Need Plan or Child Protection Plan are almost as likely to do poorly as looked-after children
• Controlling for a range of other factors such as special educational needs, low income, ethnicity, English as an additional language, past school moves and where a child lives, children who needed a social worker in the year of GCSEs are half as likely to achieve a strong pass in English and maths than those who were not
• Poor educational outcomes persist even after social work involvement ends, where children who needed a social worker up to four years prior to GCSEs were between 25 to 50 per cent less likely to achieve a strong pass in English and maths
• Poor lifetime outcomes: of young people who needed a social worker in the year of GCSEs, after age 18, six per cent were in higher education compared to 27 per cent of those not in need
• By age 21, half had still not achieved Level 2 qualifications (which include GCSEs), compared to 11 per cent of those not in need