Welcome back to my series on Election Confection, Covid Reflections, looking at what’s changed since the height of the pandemic, five years ago, and tracing lasting effects from that unique time. Back then, I already had a blog where I wrote about policy issues. That means that there’s a real-time catalogue of my thoughts on politics during the pandemic.
Each edition in this monthly series begins with my reflections in 2025, inspired by what I posted on that day in 2020, followed by a copy of my original 2020 post. Read on to go back to the future on topics including technology, gender gaps and eating out…
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Today, in June’s post, reflections on the (lack of) priority give to issues affecting children and young people:
In one of my most popular posts of the pandemic era, I wrote about how government was neglecting the interests of children and young people, as it started to re-open services after the lockdown of Spring 2020. This was a time when Boris Johnson was championing the importance of the ‘Great British pub’, and his Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson (remember him? Now Sir Gavin Williamson – how did that happen??) had cancelled public exams in secondary schools. As today’s reflection looks back and forward from June 2020, he had yet to go through the ‘A levels fiasco’ of August… Nonetheless, there was a plethora of issues to keep him busy. Schools were struggling to comply with ever-changing guidance as to how they should open; the government had been forced into a U-turn on the provision of Free School Meals during summer by the heartfelt campaigning of Marcus Rashford; childcare and early years were in crisis; students were neglected, and experts in child and family policy went unheard.
Five years on, I’m sorry to say that the picture has not been dramatically transformed. The issues in post-lockdown children’s services have a regrettably long tail. Despite a change of government, there are plenty of signs that the challenges faced by the youngest in society are being overlooked. In my 2020 post (below), I referred to an Observer editorial which proposed a manifesto for reprioritising the interests of children and young people in policy. It’s striking how much the to-do list is still relevant today. Let’s take the items on the Observer checklist in turn:
Urgent support for nurseries
I opened the Covid Reflections series with a post about how the early years sector is struggling after years of underfunding. The cost of childcare in the UK is very high, and many parents find there that there is not the capacity to meet demand for pre-school care in their local area. The current government has committed to continuing the roll-out of the 30 hours ‘free’ childcare policy, established under the Tories, whereby the majority of working parents can access subsidised childcare hours during term time. This entitlement will expand to include children from 9 months old in September – but only a minority of nurseries have committed to fully enacting the policy due to persistent funding issues.
The government has recently funded 300 school-based nurseries, as part of its pledge to create 100,000 new places. However, early year sector representatives fear that the policy may be pushing out existing voluntary sector provision in schools, so that it may not always result in additional places. The government has also begun to roll out breakfast clubs in primary schools throughout the country. Commentators have argued that this policy will have less likely impact on child poverty and inequalities, than either after-school provision, or lifting the two-child benefit cap. In sum, nurseries still need support – and the current policy offer is more sticking plaster than cure.
A detailed plan to get all children and young people back to school full time in September
Although our schools have long-since been fully open, it’s a big concern that absence rates have remained high since the pandemic. Department for Education figures show that 1:50 pupils in state schools missed at least half their lessons in in the year 2022-23, with children on Free School Meals twice as likely to be absent as others. The think tank, Education Policy Institute, has calculated that the ‘disadvantage gap’ in grades at age 11 and 16 would shrink by 10% and 20% respectively, if children in receipt of free school meals had the same attendance rates as other pupils.
Bridget Philipson, the current Education Secretary, has vowed to tackle unauthorised absences. However, it’s unclear if her decision to increase fines for parents who take holidays in termtime, will have much impact. Some areas have a no fines policy, in order to preserve home-school relations; others argue that the difference in price between peak time holidays and term time ones is too great to incentivise parents through fines. Moreover, many school leaders point to mental health issues as the principal reason for school absences.
A free programme of structured summer activities open to all five- to 18-year-olds
This proposal was pitched at meeting the need for constructive, creative activity with peers, which children had missed out on during Covid. Today, meanwhile, summer holidays remain a fraught time for many parents as the cost-of-living crisis frequently makes services unaffordable. Last year, a survey found that working parents were paying £1000 per child for full-time places during the holidays – and that councils were struggling to provide enough places to meet demand.
Every school should be assigned a child mental health counsellor
The government has provided additional funding for Mental Health Support Teams (MHST) for Schools, but there is concern that the services are unevenly spread across the country. The government has pledged that all children will have access to schools-based support by 2029-30. Currently, around half of pupils have this, but in terms of settings with a MHST, the proportion falls below 40% in some parts of England. Meanwhile, there are long waiting lists for child and adolescent mental health services – something many hope will be addressed in the upcoming NHS 10 year plan.
A programme of investment in services for vulnerable children up to 18 and their parents
Children’s services – and those related to family issues such as domestic violence or drug addiction – suffered hugely under austerity, and are still beleaguered. The number of children in care has also been increasing. Labour’s delay on publishing a child poverty strategy, and lack of clarity over lifting the two-child benefit cap, have disappointed campaigners. The spring statement did little to address children’s and young people’s issues outside of schools, and further welfare cuts are likely to impact the most deprived families.
A civic service scheme offering all 18-25-year-olds a guaranteed job paid at the living wage for six months
The Observer suggested a jobs scheme for 18–25-year-olds, in response to the harsh climate for school leavers and new graduates in the immediate aftermath of lockdown. In 2025, there is growing concern over the fact that 1 in 8 people in this age group is neither in employment nor education. In a climate of high levels of mental health problems – which are more prevalent among those outside the workforce – stagnant wages, and lower returns on graduate qualifications, and regional disparities in opportunities, the needs of young people are varied. As I reflected here, there is no quick fix to high levels of labour market inactivity in this group.
A reduction in university fees
‘Wouldn’t that be nice?’, say contemporary students, who have instead seen the level of tuition fees increase. The university sector is in something of a crisis, with international student numbers dropping, and student fees failing to rise with inflation. Young people are saddled with high levels of student debt and in-education poverty. With an in-tray full of under-funded services, the government has not picked out higher education for any largesse. There are those who argue that an emphasis on NHS spending above all, is a benefit primarily to the older generation - one which reflects a lack of interest in the young. Whatever your view of intergenerational inequalities, there is little doubt that the university experience is considerably less carefree for current students than it was for many of their parents.
Equal investment in all 18-year-old school and college leavers, whether or not they go to university
It’s long been the case that further education and apprenticeships in Britain have been Cinderella services compared to universities. Labour has established Skills England to improve training and apprenticeship opportunities. However, education policy analysts have identified some problems with its approach. While government has identified 10 priority areas of skills related to its industrial strategy, it has also encouraged Strategic Authorities in England to identify the skills needed in their localities. What if these priorities conflict? Will there be funding for skills outside the 10 centrally-identified areas? Unfortunately, ventures seeking collaboration between employers, central and local government have a poor track record in this country. Only time will tell if Skills England has the funding, clout and vision to tackle opportunities for young people. Also unfortunately, these resources have been found to be in short supply in the current economic and political environment. Young people might still have to wait to reach the top of government’s agenda. Yet again…
No time for kids … (2020)
There’s a saying that ‘to govern is to choose’, and in making choices, governments show us their priorities. In the current Covid crisis, there has been little choosing going on, when it comes to children and young people. Repeatedly, the government has failed to make clear choices about schools and childcare. The recent high-profile U-turn over Free School Meals, a change powerfully advocated for by footballer Marcus Rashford, is only the tip of a rather ignominious iceberg.
Education expert, Laura McInerney, summarised the government’s approach to children in education in England as ‘Schoolswang’. ‘Schoolswang’ is modelled on Mitchell and Webb’s quiz spoof, ‘Numberwang’, where contestants pick random numbers to shout out, until one person is declared the winner – the rules are impenetrable. ‘Schoolswang’ encompasses the Free School Meals fiasco, but also a continual lack of clarity over whether/which children should return to school. The government has swung between exhorting schools to open, admitting it can’t be done, and intermittently suggesting that teachers may be part of the problem, when all the while teaching staff have been trying to square the ever decreasing circles of attempting to make schools operate within the government’s own Covid guidelines. Last week’s Prime Minister’s Question Time reached nadir, when Boris Johnson began to ask the Leader of the Opposition to say what he was doing to solve the problem – while offering no new leadership on the issue.
On Friday, Gavin Williamson, Education Secretary, in a much-trailed speech, offered up new money, to help schools provide catch-up sessions over summer, and extra tuition for disadvantaged children. But still the questions come – will the money reach schools before the schemes are in place? How will the attainment gap be bridged if more funds aren’t funnelled towards schools in the most disadvantaged areas, or with the highest proportion of disadvantaged children? And so on…
It’s not just schools that have been mired in changing guidance. The early years sector has struggled to get a hearing at all – I have talked about the delayed decisions over keyworker status here, and discussed longstanding underfunding issues of the sector. Enter the weekend editorial in the Observer, lamenting the lack of priority given to these issues, and the lack of imagination devoted to children’s and young people’s lives overall, by both government and opposition. The newspaper has come up with a manifesto of suggestions for everyone from pre-schoolers, to school leavers and students.
By taking the bull by the horns, the Observer has shown up a lack of political priority given to children in recent politics. However, there is a welter of third sector and expert activity in this space, sadly under-used at the moment. The impact of lockdown on children’s mental health and wellbeing looms large. The Children’s Commissioner has looked at how the Covid crisis has affected children’s right to education.
But unlike the interests of those running horse racing or golf clubs, or the defenders of the ‘Great British pub’, the children’s and family sector appears to be neglected in the government’s recovery strategy. The voices raising the implications of Covid policies for women's (impending lack of) employment and experience of inequalities at home, have yet to apparently cut through. Once more it seems that the Prime Minister’s most valued constituency is a man in the street, who needs to get back to his after-work pint and a bit of sport.
Ella Davis recently wrote in the Guardian about how she got a response from Dominic Cummings and Mary Wakefield, on the issues faced by single parents in lockdown. Her perspective contributed to the recent implementation of ‘social bubbles’ for single-headed families and one other household. Single parents have suffered greatly through social isolation and insecurity in the jobs market, and it’s right that this should be addressed. As Ella Davis herself observes, the example of her campaign points up a certain blindness to the issues faced by lone parents, in routine policymaking.
Taking a wider family policy perspective, in a child-centred view, it’s hard to remain in a situation where many children and grandparents cannot see each other, just as it’s difficult to permit some years to attend school without others; if your view is employment-centred it’s obvious that you need to sort out childcare as well as schools opening, if you want parents to return to work; if it’s women-centred (which it rarely is) you need to be monitoring all these decisions through a gender lens, which, in the current circumstances, indicates job losses in many female-dominated employment sectors, and urgent need for childcare everywhere. While fathers have been found to be doing more in lockdown, it is still women who bear the brunt of childcare and home-schooling, all the evidence suggests. Flexible working and parental leave policies are both in need of reform. Irrespective of family type, most households are under some degree of economic and/or social strain after months of lockdown.
It’s a shame that family policy has been so de-prioritised in recent years that many proposals are overlooked. Enormous credit is due to individual campaigners for affecting change; there is still a whole swathe of interlocking issues around parenting and children and family income which now need dedicated attention. These issues are all the more pressing because there is little parliamentary time left this session – parliament rises on 21st July. Very little time to make schools policy effective; to deliver coherent policies for university students; only a few weeks to show how nurseries can survive to re-open to give toddlers the social stimulation they need, and to free up parents (especially mothers) to work. In the light of all this, perhaps it’s no surprise that Boris Johnson is revealing his hands-on fathering credentials this morning – like babies everywhere, his family policy is crying out for a change …
Originally published at: https://wonklifebalance.wordpress.com/2020/06/22/no-time-for-kids/