UK’s record on children’s rights
The Children’s Society Response
childrenssociety.org.uk / Policy and Public Affairs Team / 1Introduction
The Children’s Society is a national charity that runs local projects to support children and young people at risk of exploitation or harm, living in care or let down by the systems meant to protect them.In 2014/15 we supported over 34,000 children and young people.
As an organisation committed to children’s rights, we pay close attention to the Committee on the rights of the child and the concluding observations of their periodic assessments. Although the Committee’s observations are comprehensive, it is disappointing that the concluding observations from the UK’s fifth periodic assessment still contain many of the observations and recommendations made in previous assessments.
In this submission we would like to focus on five key areas in which we work:
Abuse and Neglect;
Mental Health;
Poverty and Standard of Living;
Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties;
Refugees, Asylum Seeking and Migrant Children
- Abuse and Neglect
1.116 and 17 year olds who experience neglect and abuse in families
Our analysis found that 16 and 17 year olds are more likely to be known to children’s services because of the abuse or neglect they experience in families than other age groups[1]. Yet 16 and 17 year olds do not get the same protection in law as children under the age of 16 as the offence of child cruelty,under Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, does not apply to young people of this age.
Recommendation: The age in which someone can be a victim of child abuse and neglect should be raised to protect 16 and 17 year olds.
1.216 and 17 year olds experiencing or at risk of sexual offences
Our analysis[2] of the Crime Survey for England and Wales 2013-14 identified that females aged 16 and 17 are at the highest risk of becoming a victim of a sexual offence in comparison to older age groups, with 8.6% saying they were a victim of a sexual offence during that time.
Based on Freedom of Information responses from 30 police forces, we estimate around 4,900 sexual offences against 16 and 17 year olds were reported to the police in 2014-15. Responses received from 22 police forces on the outcomes of police investigations foundan average of 8 out of 10 reported crimes result in no further police action, with only 1 in 5 resulting in a caution/ charge or community disposal.
Many older teenagers who are at risk of child sexual exploitation go missing regularly but a Child Abduction Warning Notice (CAWNs) is not available to police in the case of 16 and 17 year olds who are not in local authority care under Section 31 of the Children Act 1989 (on a full care order) to disrupt cases where adults target these children for exploitation.
Recommendation: The Government should review and extend the use of Child Abduction Warning Notices to protect vulnerable 16 and 17 year olds who go missing.
Recommendation: The Government should review and amend the offence of Coercive and Controlling Behaviour in relation to 16 and 17 year olds in sexually exploitative, non-familial relationships.
2.Mental Health;
2.1Access to mental healthcare for vulnerable groups
Approximately 200,000 young people are referred to specialist mental health services each year[3]. The Children’s Society’s report,Access Denied[4], found children with serious mental health problems are often forced to wait up to five months to get help as services struggle to cope with rising demand. The report showed that vulnerable groups of young people such as children in care and those who have experienced abuse and neglect are not being adequately supported in their journey through the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
Recommendation:The Department of Health and NHS England should strengthen the guidance on inclusion and exclusion criteria for CAMHS to end the variability that currently exists and ensure that children and young people who have experienced trauma, including abuse, are always able to access mental health support.
Recommendation:Children who have been sexually abused and/or exploited should receive a comprehensive specialist initial assessment and a referral to appropriate services providing evidence-based interventions according to their need.
2.2Poverty and its impact on children and young people’s mental health
Our report,Poor Mental Health[5], explored the links between child poverty and mental health problems. The evidence suggests that child poverty has risen over the course of the last Parliament. The Government is in the process of introducing a large number of changes affecting benefits, tax credits, income tax liabilities, and earnings. The combination of this reduction in support raises concerns about the potential negative impact on the mental health of children living in poverty. Analysis in the report showed these young people are less likely to feel optimistic about the future and more likely to think of themselves as failures than their more affluent peers.
Recommendation:Government should undertake more detailed analysis to understand the direct and indirect impacts of income poverty, welfare reform, problem debt and housing policy on children’s mental health.
2.3Children and young people’s mental health in education
The Good Childhood Report 2016[6]revealed deep concerns about the school experiences of children in England. Children in England were found to be more likely than many other countries to say they didn’t like going to school, and were more likely to have experienced being excluded by other children in their class. Given these concerns, it is crucial to explore school-based interventions that can be taken to improve children’s satisfaction with their school life and wellbeing in general.
Learning from The Children’s Society’s subjective well-being programme demonstrates that good mental health is about more than just dealing with mental health problems when they occur, it is also about promoting positive mental health through driving high levels of subjective well-being. Counsellors in schools and colleges can play an instrumental role in the promotion of positive mental health and well-being working alongside other health and social care workers in schools as well as teachers and parents.
Recommendation:The Government should introduce a legally binding entitlement for children and young people to be able to access mental health and well-being support in educational settings in England and Wales. This must include sufficient funding.
Recommendation:The Government must commit to understanding and acting on children’s well-being. At the moment there is no firm commitment from the Government that children’s well-being will continue to be measured. With a new Government in place, now is the time to reaffirm the commitment to monitoring well-being – and particularly children’s well-being – across the UK
3. Poverty and Standard of Living;
3.1Child poverty strategy and targets
By repealing sections (1-7) of the Child Poverty Act 2010, the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016[7] removed the duty on the Government to report on the four key targets for eradicating child poverty by 2020: relative low income, combined low income and material deprivation, absolute low income and persistent poverty. These measures ensured the scale of child poverty in the UK was measured and understood, and helped to drive social action to eliminate this.
The latest child poverty figures[8] from the Department for Work and Pensions found that 3.9 million children were living in poverty in the UK in 2014-15. Two thirds of children growing up in poverty live in a family where at least one member is in work, this is a 4% increase on last year’s figures.
Recommendation:The Committee should commit to scrutinising the government’s policies to reduce child poverty following the repeal of sections 1-7 of the Child Poverty Act 2010.
3.2Welfare Reform
The Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 introduced a two child limit on receipt of the child element of Child Tax Credit for children born after 5 April 2017 and the child element of Universal Credit for families making a new claim (whether or not the child is born before April 2017). The impact assessment[9]provided estimates that based on the current profile of tax credit claimants by 2020/21, 640,000 families will lose support as a direct result of the proposed changes. The same impact assessment has shown that around 1.2 million household will be affected by the loss of the family element.
Recommendation:The Government should ensure that families making a claim for Universal Credit are treated in the same way as Child Tax Credit claimants, and not face an additional rule which means children born before April 2017 may still be considered for the purposes of the two child limit.
3.3Homelessness
Approximately 12,000 young people aged 16 and 17 present themselves as homeless to their local authority. Of the 2800 that are housed, only 1,000 will be accommodated as looked after children and receive holistic support from the state.The rest will be housed by the local authority without additional support, leaving them at risk[10].
We estimate that approximately 8,400 young people aged 16 or 17 are living independently in supported accommodation like hostels, foyers, lodgings, and in some instances bed and breakfasts. These forms of accommodation are not regulated in the same way as residential homes and foster care and can often see young people living with much older adults[11].
Recommendation:The Housing Act 1996 should be amended so that homeless 16 and 17 year olds cannot be found intentionally homeless.
Recommendation: The Government should explore accreditation or regulatory options to ensure that supported accommodation housing 16 and 17 year olds meets the proper safeguarding standards to meet the needs of vulnerable children and young people.
4.Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties
Children are still being left without adequate representation and access to justice, as a result of the Government’s Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (2012). Our ‘Cut Off from Justice’ (2015)[12] report found the most palpable impact of legal aid restrictions was on children between the ages of 16-18, particularly in complicated immigration matters.[13]
Recommendation:The Government should reinstate legal aid for all unaccompanied and separated migrant children in matters of immigration by bringing it back within ‘scope’ under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 or, at the very least, conduct a review of the on-going LASPO regulations.[14]
5.Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Migrant Children
5.1Best interests of children
Our ‘Not just a temporary fix: durable solutions for separated migrant children’[15] (2015) report found that separated children’s best interests are not being holistically and effectively assessed and determined across all the systems within which they are involved, including healthcare, immigration processes, and social care. The current immigration decision-making framework for separated children involves widespread granting of temporary leave to remain, with further determinations often delayed until just before the child turns 18 years-old. Postponing such long-term decisions increases anxiety and contravenes the child’s best interests by taking away the safeguards offered by the UNCRC.[16]
Recommendation: The Committee should explore what a durable solution might look like for refugee and migrant children and make recommendations to the Government on this.
Our ‘The Cost of Being Care Free’ report (2016) stressed the important of care leavers having access to the full range of leaving care services regardless of immigration status– including access to training and education, a personal advisor and legal advice and representation if they require it[17].
Recommendation:The Committee should explore the implications of the proposed changes in the Immigration Act 2016 to exclude care leavers from leaving care provision if they are appeals rights exhausted and determine whether such a policy is compatible with children’s rights.
5.3Transfer of unaccompanied asylum seeking children between local authorities
The Government has released guidelines for the transfer of unaccompanied asylum seeking children[18] to be moved to local authorities across the country, but there is currently no provision for access to legal aid advice to ensure that they are able to access independent immigration representation to regularise their immigration status.
Recommendation: All unaccompanied asylum seeking children should be able to access high quality independent legal advice to assist them in making immigration claims that are in their best interests.
5.4No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF)
Our ‘Making Life Impossible’ (2016)[19] report found that ‘there are approximately 144,000 undocumented children living in England and Wales’ who face extensive vulnerabilities encompassing destitution and exploitation[20].
In the past two years, over 50,000 individuals with dependants had the NRPF condition applied to their limited leave to remain, and our findings show a third of applications to remove these conditions are successful.
Recommendation:The NRPF condition is not applied to parents with leave to remain in the UK where they have children under 18 years old[21].
childrenssociety.org.uk / Policy and Public Affairs Team / 1[1]
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[4] Ibid.
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[13] page 39.
[14]Ibid.
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[16] page 48.
[17] page 37.
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[20] Ibid, page 9.
[21] Ibid, page 34.