GovWire

Major reforms to protect thousands of vulnerable children hidden from sight will take another crucial step forward today, as the Childrens Wellbeing and Schools Bill is debated in Parliament (Wednesday 8 January).

Children not in school registers, stronger powers for councils to make sure children are getting the right education, and a unique identifying number for every child are part of major reforms to help tackle the tragedy of children vanishing from education and protect young people from exploitation, grooming and abuse.

The recent Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel Annual Report 2024 highlighted that children experiencing harm outside the home, including exploitation, were likely to be not enrolled in school, missing education or have poor school attendance, and thats why the Bill will also strengthen multi-agency safeguarding arrangements to quickly identify significant harm. This comes as the government announced action this week on three key recommendations from the Professor Alexis Jay review to address significant failings to keep children safe.

According to the latest government data, around 111,000 children and young people are home educated, up from an estimated 55,000 before the pandemic. This is alongside the 150,000 children missing education all together at some point during the last year. The bill will bring in unprecedented safeguards for home educated children, ratchet up powers for councils and compel local authorities to establish dedicated, multi-agency safeguarding teams to keep track of children.

Measures will also put more cash back in working parents pockets by capping the number of branded items schools can require as part of their uniform. This could save some families over 50 per child during the back-to-school shop, ensuring parents have as much flexibility as possible to shop around and save money. It will also give every parent of a primary school child a legal entitlement to a breakfast club, saving them as much as 450 per year.

The Childrens 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 governments 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 harms 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 childrens social care and help reduce the number of children missing education that are being introduced in the Childrens 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 authoritys consent should be obtained.
• If any childs 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 three 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 five 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 Childrens 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 weve campaigned on for years, and its 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 familys income, and removing the pressure of costly branded uniforms is an essential step in making that a reality.

Well 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 Childrens 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 childrens 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.