#Chances4Children: Call to 'put children first' in post-lockdown recovery planning

A statement, coordinated by Action for Children, Barnardo’s, National Children’s Bureau, NSPCC and The Children’s Society and signed by a raft of children’s charities, teaching and medical unions and professional bodies, calls on the government to “announce that children will join health and the economy as the three pillars of the government’s coronavirus response”.

• CYP Now launches #Chances4Children campaign

• Analysis: Covid-19 response offers lessons for improving children’s services

The statement says that “this generation of children face unprecedented threats to their childhoods and life chances”.

The coalition highlights the impact of the pandemic on children’s education, mental health and wellbeing due to school closures and extended waiting times for professional support.

It also calls for added support for the most vulnerable children who have been hardest hit by the crisis including disadvantaged families already living in poverty and those pushed into poverty due to the impact of coronavirus on the economy and jobs market. 

Latest research shows that more than 600,000 children are expected to face poverty as a direct result of Covid-19.

Boris Johnson is also urged to invest in extra support for children living in black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities which suffered more deaths from the virus than other communities, children with special educational needs and disabilities and those suffering from or witnessing domestic abuse.

The statement says: “Even before the onset of the crisis, child poverty was rising, school budgets were under pressure, waiting lists for mental health services were unacceptably long, and services supporting families and protecting children from abuse and neglect were at breaking point, stretched by rising need and reduced government funding.

• Analysis: changes to care responsibilities divide opinion among leaders

• Timeline for relaxation of social care statutory duties

“We know closed schools will damage the educational attainment and life chances of children – the poorest the most. We know black, Asian and minority ethnic communities will be hit the hardest. We know there is no certainty about when the crisis will end and when we can see loved ones again. We know there is more financial hardship to come.”

The statement has been backed by the Labour Party’s children and early years minister Tulip Siddiq who said: “Children seem to have been an afterthought in the government’s response to this pandemic. We knew that young people would be among the most vulnerable in lockdown, so their wellbeing should have been one of the top priorities from the start.

“Labour and the children’s sector have warned for months about the need to prepare for an increase in demand for children’s social care and mental health services. Despite these warnings, it’s not clear that ministers have a plan to protect those children who need it most.

“The government must start prioritising the wellbeing of children and make sure the services that support them are properly funded.”

The government’s response to protecting children during the crisis has drawn widespread criticism from across the sector.

The Department for Education is facing a judicial review over the relaxation of councils’ statutory duties to vulnerable children while a row with teaching unions over the reopening of schools continues to deepen.

Children with SEND have also had rights relating to education, health and care plans relaxed and removed while footballer Marcus Rashford forced a U-turn on plans to stop supplying struggling families with free school meals over the summer holidays through a widely backed social media campaign.

Children’s services have reported concerns over an expected influx of referrals as lockdown measures ease and many early years and youth services providers have expressed uncertainty over their futures due to funding cuts exacerbated by the pandemic. 

Read the full statement and list of signatories here.