The Observer view on a manifesto for change as a generation of Britain's children faces crisis | Observer editorial

Here’s how to minimise the impact of the pandemic on young people

For weeks, child poverty campaigners have been warning the government that as a result of the pandemic, poor children would be more likely than ever to go hungry this summer. For weeks, the government refused to commit to spending the modest amount it would take to avoid 1.3 million children not having enough food to eat in one of the richest countries in the world. Disgracefully, it was not concern for basic child welfare that propelled Boris Johnson to change his mind last week, but fears of a political backlash after the footballer Marcus Rashford championed the call for change.

The manner in which Johnson was forced into this U-turn brings into even sharper focus the lack of moral fibre and the ineptitude that has characterised the government’s handling of the pandemic. Coronavirus is the biggest threat to child wellbeing in a generation, yet the government appears to have no plan.

Urgent support for nurseries. Quality nursery provision is key to child development for children from disadvantaged backgrounds but many providers, particularly in lower-income areas, have been struggling without fees from parents who are not working or who have been laid off during the pandemic. The government must immediately purchase nursery places en masse to save nursery providers, particularly in poorer areas. This should pave the way for free universal nursery provision in the longer term. And the government should fund interventions to support the language development of all three- and four-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds who have fallen behind.

A detailed plan to get all children and young people back to school full time in September. This must include an immediate restoration of per-pupil school and college funding for five- to 18-year-olds to 2010 levels; even the extra one-off £650m announced last week leaves funding well short of this. The government must consider reducing social distancing requirements specifically for schools; there is no reason why there should be a blanket rule for the whole of society given children, young people and younger teachers are at far lower risk. There should be a recruitment drive for trainee and retired teachers to help deliver the catch-up tuition that schools will need to deliver in order to reduce the attainment gap.

A free programme of structured summer activities open to all five- to 18-year-olds, but prioritising those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The summer holidays are a fast-approaching danger zone, when many children and young people will face the prospect of even less structure to their day while lockdown restrictions remain in place and many parents are returning to work. The government should commission the sports and arts sectors – theatre groups, galleries and museums, music venues – and youth services to put on structured outdoor and indoor activities for children over the summer. These will help develop the emotional and behavioural skills of children whose development may have suffered as a result of lockdown, provide important respite for anxious parents and alleviate the strain on many family relationships.

Every school should be assigned a child mental health counsellor, who can work directly with children who need specialist mental health support, but whose responsibility would also include working on whole-school approaches to improving the mental health of all children, building on the work of charities such as Place2Be. Schools in disadvantaged areas should be prioritised.

A programme of investment in services for vulnerable children up to 18 and their parents. Children’s services have been eroded by a decade of austerity, leaving acute services struggling to cope, rising numbers of children going into care and a lack of preventive support services to help parents cope before things get too bad. If parents do not get support with the increased domestic abuse, mental health issues and substance abuse levels that are a likely result of lockdown, this could lead to more family relationships breaking down and more children ending up in care.

A civic service scheme offering all 18-25-year-olds a guaranteed job paid at the living wage for six months. School leavers and graduates are beginning their working lives in an unforgivably hostile jobs market; we know from past recessions that it is young people whose earnings will be affected most profoundly both in the short and long term. As lockdown restrictions ease, a paid civic service scheme could create opportunities for young people to build their skills by making a contribution, including mentoring children in schools, working on local environmental projects and putting on social activities for older people in hospitals, care homes and community centres, while at the same time providing them with coaching and professional development.

A reduction in university fees. There remains huge uncertainty about what type of student experience awaits young people in the autumn, but it is likely to be missing key elements such as in-person lectures, freshers’ fairs, student parties and many of the arts, sports and drama activities that make up student life. To compensate, the government must commit to reducing tuition fees for at least the next year. But in recognition of the fact that young people who go to university already get an average £25,000 state subsidy into their post-18 education, whereas those who do not get virtually nothing, the government must set aside the same amount it spends reducing tuition fees to spend on the young people in this group who will not be going to university.

Equal investment in all 18-year-old school and college leavers, whether or not they go to university. For too long, young people who go to university have had far higher levels of investment in their education and a much gentler transition to adult life – that comes through living in student accommodation and the mental health and pastoral support offered by a university – than those who do not, compounding the impact of social inequality even further. In the long term, we must move towards offering all 18-year-olds the same levels of investment in their education and training and similar levels of support with the transition to adulthood, whether or not they go to university.

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/310UIeP