Five of the largest charities working to support children and young people in the UK have come together to call for the next UK Government to put babies, children and young people at the heart of Government policy making, backed by a step-change in investment to transform childhoods across the UK.
Action for Children, Barnardo’s, The Children’s Society, National Children’s Bureau and NSPCC are inviting the main political parties to commit to a personal pledge by the next Prime Minister and Chancellor to be champions for children, to put them at the heart of their next government and invest more of the nation’s wealth in improving their lives.
The Children’s Charities Coalition’s Children at the Table report released last week highlights that babies, children and young people have been overlooked by policy makers for too long and the impact is clear: more children are living in poverty, they face a growing mental health crisis, and are waiting too long to receive urgently needed support. There are rising numbers of children persistently absent from school, more children being impacted by abuse, exploitation and online harm, and a greater number of children being taken into care due to reaching a crisis point in their lives.
Sadly, in the UK today, around 4.2 million children are growing up in poverty, including 48% of children from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups. One million children in the UK are living in extreme poverty and one in 12 parents have a child who has had to share a bed with them or a sibling because they cannot afford another bed.
At the same time, the mental health and wellbeing of many of the UK’s children is in decline and the poorest 10% of children are nearly twice as likely to die before reaching adulthood as the most advantaged 10% of children. One in six children aged 7-16 and one in four young people aged 17-19 are thought to have a diagnosable mental health condition and more children than ever need support from local authority children’s services because they are at risk of harm at home, online or elsewhere. In 2022 more than 80,000 children in England were looked after by local authorities – an increase of 22% over the last 10 years and 201 children died due to known or suspected abuse and neglect.
With an election around the corner, the Children’s Charities Coalition is calling on the next Government (regardless of party) for a commitment to an ambitious cross-Government strategy and outcomes framework to drive improvements for babies, children and young people, a new approach to decision-making that places children’s needs, wishes and outcomes at its heart, involving children and young people every step of the way and more investment of our national wealth committed to, and spent strategically on, improving the lives of babies, children and young people.
Visit Children at the Table to read the report.
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Campaign Collective is campaign partner to the Children’s Charities Coalition