A Joint Statement from the Children’s Rights Organisations (the five charities selected as Core Participants in Module 8 of the Covid Inquiry) on the fifth anniversary of the Covid pandemic lockdown in the UK.
The Government must act to help the poorest children recover from the last five years and work to secure their futures.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed and deepened significant inequalities for children in the UK, made worse by a lack of political will to prioritize their rights and needs before, during, and after the crisis. This created a ‘perfect storm’ of challenges, including rising child poverty, short and long-term effects on children’s education, attendance, attainment, and development. The immediate recovery funding was not sufficient to meet the impact of the crisis on children and young people.
- Analysis published this week by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) looking at pupil performance after the Covid-19 pandemic highlights how children from the lowest income families are now up to 19 months behind peers by the time they are 16 years old.
- A report published this week by IPPR, found that children lost 6.8 million days of learning in the autumn term before the Covid pandemic (2019/20) due to suspensions and absences, but this rose sharply to 11.5 million days in the same period in 2023/24 - an increase of 67 per cent. There was a rise of 10 per cent between the autumn terms of 2022/23 and 2023/24 alone. The most vulnerable and disadvantaged children are impacted the most.
- One in five children and young people experience a common mental health problem, such as anxiety or depression (NHS Digital, 2023). This is almost double the 2017 figure.
- There are 4.3 million children living in poverty in the UK today. These are record numbers, and without government action, child poverty is set to rise further over the coming years.
- In 2022/23, a third of children were not considered school ready, with 45% of children receiving Free School Meals are not ready for school. Children deemed not school ready are nearly 2.5 times as likely to be persistently absent from school, and around three times more likely to be Not in Education, Employment, or Training.
Baroness Anne Longfield, Founder of the Centre for Young Lives, and Children’s Commissioner for England during the pandemic, said:
“The Covid crisis shone an uncomfortable and sometimes shocking spotlight on the many challenges facing millions of children and families. Five years on, its impact is still holding back the life chances of too many children. We can see it now in the number of children born during the pandemic arriving at school without the development skills they need to learn, the unacceptable numbers of children living in poverty, the widening educational attainment gap, the rise in school absence and school exclusions, and the deeply worrying crisis in children and young people’s mental health.
“History is unlikely to look kindly on the immediate response to the challenges facing many children during the pandemic, or during the recovery period afterwards. The tragedy is that for some children the impact of Covid is still ongoing, even half a decade on.
“Our focus must remain on both providing them with the support they need now, and ensuring that should another pandemic occur again, children are not an afterthought but a priority.”
Dan Paskins, Executive Director of Policy, Advocacy & Campaigns at Save the Children UK said:
“The impact of COVID-19, combined with the cost-of-living crisis, continues to hit children from low-income families the hardest. Many have seen their standard of living decline with families struggling to afford essentials. We know young children are starting school lacking basic life skills, and we know that many children lost a significant amount of time in the classroom, which will have long-term consequences for their academic achievement and future success.
“Evidence shows the overall wellbeing of children dropped sharply during the pandemic, and the effects are still being felt today. Those from disadvantaged backgrounds face even greater mental health challenges compared to their peers.
“The government must seize this moment to act. It should serve as a catalyst for real change - through legislation and an ambitious child poverty strategy - to address the long-term impact of the past five years and ensure that all children have the opportunity to thrive.”
Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said:
“Lockdown hit struggling families hard. A decade of austerity meant that far too many children entered the pandemic living in poverty and without the resources they needed, even in better times. Instead of supporting families with children, the government’s covid response – in education and in financial support – only exacerbated existing inequalities, making living and learning an impossible challenge for many.
“The government’s forthcoming child poverty strategy must ensure we never leave our country’s children defenceless like this again. Government must start by scrapping the two-child limit and introducing targets to reduce child poverty.”
Louise King, Co-Lead of Just for Kids Law and Director of the Children’s Rights Alliance for England, said:
“The failure to adequately consider children’s rights during the pandemic caused unnecessary harm which could have been mitigated if the right laws and decision-making processes had been in place.
The pandemic exacerbated existing structural inequalities and discrimination, which meant that the damage caused was particularly acute for certain groups of children, including those in poverty, from racialised communities, or living in institutions. Alarmingly, a plethora of research has shown that the impact of the pandemic is still being felt by many children five years on from the first lockdown – ruining childhoods as well as future life chances.
We need to be serious about addressing the harms caused to society’s youngest and most marginalised and learn lessons from past mistakes as soon as possible. The UK Government must take the opportunity of the Children’s Well-being and Schools Bill to introduce statutory requirements to ensure that children are no longer invisible in government policy and budgetary decision-making.”
ENDS
Further information, please contact: Connie Muttock, connie.muttock@centreforyounglives.org 07977113708