Protecting children at risk of abuse and stopping vulnerable children falling through the cracks are at the heart of a landmark children’s Bill, set to be introduced in Parliament today (17 December).
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is central to delivering on the government’s Plan for Change, which will put children’s futures at the centre of rebuilding public services, and break down barriers to opportunity. The measures will help ensure all children get the best start in life, to drive the sustainable, lasting change that children and families need – and deserve – to achieve and thrive.
Over recent years, there have been a number of shocking cases of children being failed by a disjointed system. The measures introduced today will write children’s best interests into law and make child-centred government a reality.
The Bill will introduce new registers to identify children who are not in school. With better knowledge of where children are, councils can more easily deliver the support that’s needed and ensure a high quality education is being provided.
The Bill will also pave the way for a unique identifier number for children across services – like the national insurance number works for adults.
Parents will no longer have an automatic right to educate their children at home if their child is subject to a child protection investigation or under a child protection plan. If a child’s home environment is assessed as unsuitable or unsafe, local authorities will also now have the power to intervene and require school attendance for any child.
Teachers and educators are often the first to spot warnings of abuse or neglect, and last year, schools were the second largest referrer of cases into children’s social care. Measures in the Bill will make sure that teachers and schools are always involved in decisions around safeguarding children in their area.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said
In recent years, too many children have been failed by their last line of defence the state.
This Bill will be a seminal moment for child protection. No more words, no more lessons learnt. This government will put children first at every turn.
That means a child-centred government, with better protections for young people and real join up between children’s social care, schools and local services. Alongside further measures to drive high and rising standards in our schools, this Bill will deliver on this government’s Plan for Change, so that all children, whatever their circumstances, can achieve and thrive.
Breaking the cycle of crisis intervention is critical to securing better outcomes for children. Families should be able to rely on being able to access the help they need to keep their family together, but too often, disjointed services stand in the way.
The government is doubling the investment for Family Help services to £500m next year, allowing local authorities to support vulnerable families and protect children before issues escalate to tragedy. The significant cash boost will strengthen family security and go towards providing wrapround support for families struggling with issues like substance misuse or mental health, getting help to the family and identifying children at risk earlier in the process, before problems get worse.
Better data sharing is critical to ensuring issues can be spotted earlier and acted on. The unique identifier number for children will allow those responsible for the safeguarding and welfare of children to better join together relevant data, preventing children from falling through the cracks.
While there will always be cases where children need to go into the care system, with earlier intervention, families can often be supported to stay together.
That’s why the new laws will see all councils offer Family Group Decision Making – a service that brings extended family members together where a child is on the brink of entering care. This comes alongside a requirement on councils to publish a local kinship offer, so that family members and friends stepping in to care for children know what support is available to them. This could include training or access to peer support groups which provide valuable support networks for new carers.
The Bill will also support the government’s crackdown on excessive profit-making by children’s social care providers, including introducing a backstop law to potentially cap the profit providers can make.
New measures under the Bill will also help deliver on commitments to drive high and rising standards in education. They include
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Councils will be able to welcome proposals for all types of school, not just academies, so new schools are opened by the provider with the best local offer for local children and families.
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All new teachers will hold or be working towards Qualified Teacher Status before they enter the classroom. They will also need to complete a statutory induction period.
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Every schoolteacher will have the same core pay and conditions offer, and schools will have greater flexibility to attract and retain the best teachers.
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Schools and councils will have to work together when it comes to school admissions, with councils given greater powers to ensure admissions decisions reflect local needs including the placement of vulnerable children.
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Failing schools run by local authorities will not be automatically forced to become an academy, opening up a broader range of levers to quickly drive-up standards.
The government’s Plan for Change will rebuild Britain with investment and reform to drive a decade of national renewal and put politics back in the service of working people. As part of this, the government has committed to ensuring tens of thousands more children are school ready, helping deliver our mission to close the opportunity gap. To tackle the obstacles holding children back the government has already taken steps to extend early language support, invested £15 million to deliver the first phase of school-based nurseries, and improved training and guidance for early educators to better support and assess children with special educational needs.
