CYP Now - ADCS president calls for urgent action to address inequality in first virtual speech

Financial, social and educational inequality should be addressed as a “priority” as the UK eases out of Covid-19 lockdown, the president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) has said.

ADCS president Jenny Coles opened the virtual ADCS Annual Conference. Picture: ADCS

Jenny Coles said in a speech to mark the start of the virtual ADCS Annual Conference 2020 that the pandemic had shone a “spotlight on inequalities and social injustice in our society”.

Poverty

Coles highlighted figures from the government’s Social Mobility Commission which predict Covid-19 will see 600,000 more families fall into poverty by the end of 2020.

She added that “without urgent action to protect families from the financial hardship caused by the pandemic, this would bring the total number of children living in poverty in the UK to 4.5 million by the end of this year”, noting that children from black and minority ethnic (BAME) groups are more likely to be in poverty.

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