There is a “void” in the Welsh Government’s plan to tackle child poverty and some young people are at risk of slipping through the net because of the children and young people have not returned to school since the start of the pandemic, the departing Children’s Commissioner has warned.
Professor Sally Holland called for more planning and investment to help the 31% of children living in poverty in Wales and more help for those have not returned to school since the pandemic began.
She said the Welsh Government had cut child poverty since devolution, but not by enough and she was “even more frustrated” with the lack of action from the Whitehall Government. You can see the areas of Wales with the most child poverty here.
Professor Holland, who steps down after her seven year term in office in April, said more needs to be done to help all children and young people recover from the effects of the pandemic. She repeated warnings that some children have not gone back to school since they first shut to most pupils two years ago at the start of the pandemic . More than one in 10 miss school and you can read more about that here
She was worried about the high numbers off school and the growing mental health problems among young people. Latest Welsh Government data out this week showed more than one in 10 children miss school on average every day and those eligible for free meals are 5.6% points more likely to skip classes than their better off peers.
“I am really worried about what I am hearing from schools and social care settings about how we have a whole cohort for whom the pandemic has had a very big impact in terms of their behaviour and mental health and the habit of not going to school.
“Some children and young people have not returned to school since the start of the pandemic, some have returned but not often and some have returned but are struggling to engage.
“I think we really are going to have years of trying to recover from this.”
Professor Holland said those in charge must pump money in to help young people with serious consequences looming.
“I have been looking closely at the finances. The Education policy Institute compares spend and it shows that Wales is spending more per pupil on pandemic recovery than England but that is dwarfed by investment in other countries.
“The Netherlands is putting in five times as much and the USA, which is not know for large public spending, is putting in four times as much.
“I think we are going to need to plough huge investment into children’s services in the next few years, and not just education. If that investment is not made we risk a cohort of children and young people who may continue to be disengaged from education which will have long term consequences.
“There is no quick fix for this. It needs really strong investment. This is going to last years. We need to continue to think of Covid as a public health emergency and something that will continue to be so long after we learn to live with it.”
On child poverty she said more action was urgently needed, especially in the current living standards crisis.
“Child poverty is a real issue across England and Wales. Child poverty here is 1% higher than in England and nearly a third of children in Wales are living in poverty. That’s not something we should accept and we can do something about it.
“Child poverty in Wales is now running at 31% compared to 30% in the UK as a whole. It was 34% at the start of devolution so there’s been no proper shift in that time.
“Extending the free school meal pledge will help but the Welsh Government could always do more and invest more.
“I would like to see a more coherent improvement plan about how they are going to tackle child poverty. There seems to have been a void after they dropped their pledge to end child poverty by 2020.”
She said she had “an even bigger frustration with the UK government”. Child benefit has not kept up with inflation and penalises larger families. She had also been unable to meet with ministers such as Therese Coffey, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to discuss her concerns over child benefit.
Looking back on her seven years in the role Professor Holland said she was proud of her work on bullying and asking young people how they thought bullying should be addressed.
As a result of her work there is now statutory guidance on bullying which schools must follow. She is also pleased to have been part of the momentum getting Wales’ historic smacking ban, which has just come into law.
But as well as poverty and the pandemic the spectre of a growing mental health crisis among young people is still a concern.
As part of her work as Children’s Commissioner seven specialist therapy units are being set up in each health board area in Wales for children and young people in care who need help but don’t have a treatable disorder suitable for psychiatric units or treatment.
“There are some young people in the care system showing really alarming mental health issues such as suicidal intent, risk taking and self harming, that are trauma related and not treatable osyhciatric conditions.
“Sometimes they are held on adult psychiatric wards for weeks. I got very hot under the collar about this years ago and repeatedly talked to ministers such as Vaughan Gething and Julie Morgan about it.
“I am pleased to say there is now funding for these regional centres jointly funded by mental health service and social care.They are the first specialist therapeutic units for these young peoople in the UK.”
Professor Holland said the last two years had been dominated by Covid and there was still plenty of work to be done. She was sorry not to have been able to do more on the regulation of home education.
Professor Holland will return to her prevoious role as profesor in the school of social sciences at Cardiff University.
Her successor growing mental health problems among young people takes over next month.
