The Educator Magazine U.K. Jan-April 2025 issue - Magazine - Page 23
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill,
that will bring these measures into law,
has its second reading in Parliament
today, helping make child-centred
government a reality and deliver on the
government’s Plan for Change.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson
said: Keeping children safe will always
be my first duty as education secretary,
but we can only truly do that if we know
where our children are. The sad reality is
that at the moment there are thousands
of children hidden from sight.
This government will make no apologies
for doing whatever is necessary to keep
children out of harm’s way, and I will not
stand by while some young people fall
through the cracks, left without a good
education and vulnerable to exploitation
and abuse.
This landmark bill is a crucial step forward
in our mission to protect all children,
while also supporting parents by
putting more money in their pockets as
we deliver our Plan for Change and give
all children the best start in life.
Measures to reform children’s social care
and help reduce the number of children
missing education that are being
introduced in the Children’s Wellbeing
and Schools Bill include:
• All councils will be required to hold
a register of children who are not in
school. Councils will be able to require
parents and providers of out of school
education to share information like
name, address and the nature of the
education children are being provided
• A unique number for every child – in
the same way every adult has their own
national insurance number – to join up
systems and make sure no child falls
through the cracks. A consistent
identifier will allow those responsible
for the safeguarding and welfare of
children to better join relevant data and
identify children who will benefit from
additional support
• The removal of the automatic right for
parents to educate children at home if
their child is subject to a child protection
investigation or under a child protection
plan. Schools will need to check with
the local authority where a parent asks
to remove a child from school to home
educate, to establish whether the local
authority’s consent should be obtained.
• If any child’s home environment is
assessed as unsuitable or unsafe, local
authorities will have the power to
intervene and require school
attendance
• Making sure every council operates
best practice ‘multi-agency’
safeguarding panels, that bring
together all the professionals that
can best make sure children are kept
safe both inside and outside the home
Wider measures in the bill include
capping the number of branded items
schools can require as part of their
uniform. Primary schools will be able to
require a maximum of 3 branded items,
and secondary schools will have the
option to include an additional item if
one of those is a tie.
Data shows 24% of primary and 70% of
secondary schools still require 5 or more
branded items, with some parents saying
they were asked to provide 10 or more.
Limiting the number of branded items
having to be bought from designated
suppliers could save some parents over
£50 per child during the back-to-school
shop from September 2026 – thanks to
greater flexibility to buy from a range of
retailers.
Primary school children will also benefit
from the option to attend a free breakfast
club, which could save parents up to £450
a year. Clubs will launch from April 2025
at schools taking part in the early adopter
scheme.
Mark Russell, CEO at The Children’s
Society, said: The high cost of school
uniforms has put an unnecessary financial
strain on families for far too long. This
is a pivotal moment on an issue we’ve
campaigned on for years, and it’s very
encouraging to see this progress towards
a fairer and more affordable approach.
Schools will play a key role in ensuring
these changes deliver for families, and
so the new measures should be both
practical and effective. Every child
deserves to feel equal and included,
regardless of their family’s income, and
removing the pressure of costly branded
uniforms is an essential step in making
that a reality. We’ll continue to push for
reforms that put children and families
first, so no child feels left out or
disadvantaged because of the cost of
their uniform.
Sir David Holmes CBE, Chief Executive
of Family Action said: It is great to see
the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools
Bill continuing its passage through
Parliament. Second Reading stage provides a crucial opportunity for
Parliamentarians and for everyone else
who is interested in children’s wellbeing
to scrutinise further this new and
important draft legislation.
We particularly welcome the proposals
to introduce a unique identifier number
for children across services, registers to
identify children who are not in school
and of course the provisions which will
introduce universal free breakfast clubs
in state-funded primary schools.
