Member News from Together Trust: What commitments do we want from the next government?

This week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared 4th July as the date for the next general election.  

Parliament is set to be dissolved on the 30th of May, and the vote will occur 25 working days later.  

In light of this announcement, we want to highlight the key commitments we expect to see from the next government, whichever political party is voted in. 

What are some of the changes we want to see? 

Children's social care  

1. All children in care to receive care where they live  
2. Action to end the practice of children living in unregistered (illegal) homes 
3. At least 2.6bn investment in the children’s social care system, with dedicated early intervention to help families in crisis 
4. Full incorporation of the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child 
5. A commitment to addressing high levels of relative child poverty in the UK  

All children in care to receive care  
We have been members of the Keep Caring to 18 steering group since February 2021.  

In March 2024, our Policy, Public Affairs, and Campaigns Manager, Lucy Croxton, gave evidence to the Education Committee at Parliament as part of a panel on children's social care. 

Our position is clear, we believe that all children in the care system should receive care where they live until they are at least 18.   

Following data we gathered with journalist Tom Wall being published in the Observer and bringing national attention to the issue of children in care living in illegal homes, we’d also like to see a joint national strategy from Ofsted, the Department for Education (DfE) and other relevant government departments to end the use of unregistered accommodation for children once and for all.  

Due to the impact of inflation and the additional costs stemming from delaying reform to the care system, we will need to see more than the original £2.6bn figure requested by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. So far, only £200 million has been allocated by our current government. A significant amount of the new funding should go to dedicated early intervention help, so that children can be supported to be cared for in their families wherever safe to do so. 

Alongside this, we want to see the full incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Child (UNCRC) as the most comprehensive declaration of children’s rights. This would create a mechanism to ensure that children’s voices and ambitions are at the heart of policymaking and put children in England on equal footing with those in Scotland, Norway and Sweden.  

We also want to see a commitment from any new government to address drivers of relative child poverty in the UK. Child poverty has been shown to increase the likelihood of children being taken into care (Bennett, 2022). 

Source:
www.togethertrust.org.uk

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