OPEN LETTER TO ALL POLITICAL PARTY LEADERS
On 29th November 2019 the National Children's Bureau released an open letter to the political party leaders which is supported by SEFDEY and 146 other children's charities and organisations:
As leaders of charities and organisations working with vulnerable children across the UK, we ask that you address the needs of our youngest citizens and set out how you will prioritise them in the next Parliament.
General elections are the moments when we debate and decide the nation’s future and there is no greater investment that we, as a society, and you, as politicians, can make for our future prosperity than ensuring every child gets the best start in life. Strengthening childhoods builds a healthier society and a stronger economy.
There are almost 14 million children in the UK but their voices are missing from the national conversation and far too little attention has been paid to their needs, particularly those of the most vulnerable. Instead, the debate on Brexit means the issues affecting children are being crowded out of the national debate.
We are asking each of you to put children at the heart of this election. We invite you to listen directly to the voices of children and commit to three actions to improve their outcomes:
Set out your party’s priorities for vulnerable children. The number of children in the UK living in poverty has risen to 4.1 million. A child goes into care every 15 minutes. One in eight 5 to 19 year olds have at least one mental health condition. Your parties must set out how they will protect children from these and other challenges like online harm, serious youth violence and the criminal exploitation of children. These are urgent problems that can leave children scarred for a lifetime, with consequences for the whole of society.
Put children at the front of the queue for investment. We know from our frontline experience that support from services and professionals can be crucial in helping children and families thrive, such as help for new parents to bond with their babies; support for pupils at risk of school exclusion; and child protection teams who intervene when children are in danger.
However, these services are increasingly facing a funding crisis, as the number of children needing support is continuing to rise – there has been a 17% increase in the number of children in care since 2010 - and the amount of money the Government provides to spend on children’s services has fallen. The Local Government Association estimates that the funding gap for children’s services will be £3.1 bn by 2024 and England’s Children’s Commissioner says £10bn is needed to ensure all disadvantaged children get a chance to thrive.
Re-balance spending. We’re spending more on the consequences of children ending up in crisis and less and less on preventing crisis in the first place. In the past decade, spending on early intervention services fell by 49% while spending on statutory, late intervention services rose by 12%. Early help services like children’s centres are missing out on funding even though they play a crucial role in identifying children with developmental problems or families struggling at home. The next Government should ensure local authorities have the resources to run early intervention programmes which have been proven to work.
Only through an honest debate about how we respond to these challenges, and the urgency with which we do it, can this election help set us on a better path for all children. This could be the most important General Election in a generation and the children we work with don’t have a vote - so they must have a voice.
We look forward to hearing from you,
Yours sincerely,
Action for Children
Barnardo's
NSPCC
National Children's Bureau
The Children's Society
Achievement for All
Alström Syndrome UK
Amaze
Ambitious about Autism
Association of Child Protection Professionals
Association of Play Industries
Association of School and College Leaders
ATD Fourth World
Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile
Batten Disease Family Association
BECERA
Become
BF Adventure
Bishop of Durham
Bounce Forward
British Academy of Childhood Disability
British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
British Dyslexia Association
British Youth Council
Buttle
Catch 22
Centre for Mental Health
Centre for Research in Early Childhood
Cerebral Palsy Sport
Chailey Heritage Foundation
Champs Academy
Child Poverty Action Group
Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition
Children North East
Children's Rights Alliance for England
Children's University
CLIC Sargent
Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies
Contact
Coram
Coram BAAF
Dorset Children's Foundation
Early Childhood Studies Degrees Network
Early Education
Escape Intervention Services
Family Fund
Family Links
Grandparents Plus
Greater Manchester Poverty Action
H is for Harry
Healthy Teen Minds
Home for Good
Home-Start UK
I CAN
Include Me TOO
Independent Children's Homes Association
Institute of Health Visiting
Intergenerational Foundation
Jigsaw4u
Just Fair
Just For Kids Law
Keeping Early Years Unique
Kids
Kidscape
Leap Confronting Conflict
Mental Health First Aid England
METRO Charity
Mind
Montessori St. Nicholas Charity
Nacro change
nagalro
NAPLIC
National Association for Youth Justice
National Association of Headteachers
National Association of Independent Schools & Non-Maintained Special Schools
National Development Team for Inclusion
National Education Union
National Family Mediation
National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum
National Network of Parent Carer Forums
National Youth Advocacy Service
NCT
Nepacs
Niemann-Pick UK
Our Time
Parent-Infant Foundation
Partnership for Children
Partnership for Young London
Peeple
Rainbow Trust Children's Charity
Resources for Autism
RJ Working
Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
Safer London
SafeToNet
SafeToNet Foundation
Salford CVS
Savana
Scope
Scottish Out of School Care Network
SEFDEY Professional Association
Sibs
Social Workers Union
Social Workers Without Borders
Sports and PE Association
St Vincent's Family Project
Standing Committee for Youth Justice
Stem4
Step Up To Serve
StreetDoctors
TACTYC
Team Mental Health
The ADD-vance ADHD and Autism Trust
The Association of Child Psychotherapists
The Care Experienced Conference
The Care Leavers Association
The Centre for Outcomes of Care
The Childhood Trust
The Children's Sleep Charity
The Enthusiasm Trust
The Equality Trust
The Fostering Network
The Marine Society and Sea Cadets
The Matthew Elvidge Trust
The Mulberry Bush
The National Organisation for Foetal Alcohol Syndrome-UK
The Reach Foundation
The Together Trust
Thomas Pocklington Trust
Together for Short Lives
Triple P UK
Turn2us
Unicef UK
WellChild
Winston's Wish
YMCA
Young Epilepsy
YoungMinds
Your Life Your Story
Youth Access
Youth Practitioners’ Association
Youth Sport Trust
