Covid-19 impact on vulnerable children: key messages from education committee hearing
Fiona Simpson
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
The UK could face “losing a generation of young people” to poverty and poor mental health following the coronavirus crisis, the education select committee has heard.
Giving evidence on the impact of the pandemic on vulnerable children, Javed Khan, chief executive of charity Barnardo’s, warned systems may not be in place to tackle the “substantial” effects on disadvantaged young people.
Khan was joined by Jenny Coles, president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, to answer questions from 11 cross-party MPs on their experience of the impact of Covid-19 on the sector.
Here are three key issues discussed during the session:
Children’s services could face ‘surge’ in demand
Coles warned that the overall impact of Covid-19 on children’s services will only become clear “over a long period of time in terms of educational outcomes, mental health and emotional health”.
She told the committee that services across the country had seen a “substantial drop” in referrals to child protection teams due to the closure of schools.
Figures released by the Department for Education showed that just five per cent of vulnerable children attended school in the first few weeks of lockdown.
Coles said: “It may be that we see a spike in referrals to child protection and safeguarding teams as schools reopen.”
However, she added that in her local area of Hertfordshire, 25 per cent of children with a child protection plan were attending school.
Both she and Khan also highlighted concerns over an increase in children facing poverty and abuse for the first down due to pressures caused by the pandemic.
Khan said: “There is a real worry here for the ‘hidden’ children, the ones who we and children’s services haven’t seen before whose families are now facing poverty and who may be experiencing abuse for the first time.”
Local authority funding
Khan warned that an expected recession could lead to local authority budgets being “squeezed” and will not be able to provide the services and resources that the most vulnerable children rely on.
He said the financial impact could cause a "perfect storm where the most vulnerable will suffer the most".
Khan said local authorities needed to “shift thinking” away from competitive tendering for services and towards deeper strategic partnerships with providers through which resources could be pooled.
Coles added that her biggest concern was a loss of resources and funding for “preventative services that families can easily access when they’re having difficulties”.
“There are concerns over their work and sustainability, particularly charities providing those services,” she said.
She called for a three-year funding settlement for children’s services and special educational needs and disabilities followed by a “strategic plan for the future”.
Mental health support ‘must be provided by schools’
When asked by Ian Mearns, MP for Gateshead, what schools and children's services should be doing to prepare for an increase in children with mental health needs, Coles said a five to six week “lead-in” time was needed for settings to put in place “wrap-around” care including emotional and mental health support.
"There was an increasing amount of mental health support in schools before the crisis but some of those resources have had to be taken away, we need to assess whether those are back in place. There is very likely to be a shortfall," she said.
Coles added that schools should take into account that “some local communities had suffered more than others” and provide targeted support to the worst affected.
Khan said: “We need to talk about the discriminatory impact of the virus, and that there is a disproportionate impact on BAME (Black and minority ethnic) children and young people.”
Coles also said that social workers needed to be sent a “strong message” by the government to help them encourage parents to let vulnerable children return to school.
“Getting parental confidence in terms of a phased return to school needs a lot of work and this is not something that will be fixed by 1 June,” she said.
Relaxation of statutory duties
When quizzed on the controversial relaxation of statutory duties to vulnerable young people, Coles said the ADCS had been involved in talks over the changes “during the early stages” but was not consulted later in the process.
She added that while there had been controversy over the changes to legislation, guidance published by the DfE “added context”.
“We need to keep children in care looked after and respond to families,” Coles said. “Flexibilities will only be used in an emergency, and be carefully monitored.”
MPs posed questions over opposition to the changes by Children’s Commissioner for England Anne Longfield who has called for the changes to be revoked.
Khan said he was glad she had raised concerns about the justification for the changes.
He added that he could “understand the logic of some of the relaxations” but called for use of the changes to be independently monitored.
