Children’s Commissioner calls for full implementation of UN Convention on Rights of the Child, and new legislation to recognise “modern risks” in way Children Act 1989 does not

In a blog post published last week (30 October), Dame Rachel also observed that although the Children Act 1989 has improved the lives of children, the world in which children are growing up has changed.

She said: “Today, many children face harm outside the home – through exploitation and grooming – and professionals are having to adapt and stretch outdated laws to protect them. A new Act must recognise these modern risks and equip services to respond effectively.”

Outlining current challenges in relation to safe and sufficient accommodation, De Souza pointed to the findings of her report last year on Illegal Children’s Homes, which revealed that on one day alone, 775 children were living in unregistered, illegal settings, including caravans.

She said: “Even in local authorities rated good or better, there have been breaches of children’s rights with children being moved out of loving foster homes and placed in accommodation where they cannot legally receive care – often for cost-saving reasons. Concerningly, some 16 and 17-year-olds are not even being brought into care but instead treated as homeless.”

Meanwhile, she warned that across the country, siblings are being separated due to a lack of space for them to remain together, and that children in care are frequently missing out on education when they “fall under the radar” of professionals.

The Children’s Commissioner said: “While there is no silver bullet that would address all of the ongoing issues in the care system, incorporating the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child would be a major step forward in how we protect children’s rights – and protect childhood itself.  

“Many of the Convention’s principles are reflected in laws like the Children Act 1989. Full incorporation would make those rights directly enforceable, meaning public bodies must also uphold children’s rights in every decision they make and every service they deliver.”

Further recommendations were outlined by the Children’s Commissioner as follows:

• “At present, the help a child receives is too often dependent on the capacity or quality of services where they live. Moving forward there must be a national threshold for intervention and clear entitlements to support that make the system fairer and more transparent for every child who needs help.  
• That defence of “reasonable punishment” should be removed as a matter of urgency. 
• Reforms must also extend to inspection and accountability, with a single, trusted local framework, judging outcomes across social care, SEND and family services.
• We need strong family support, including Family Hubs in every area, and reforms to reduce child poverty, including scrapping the two-child limit and ending the five-week wait for support from Universal Credit.  
• For those in care, every child deserves a family-based home where they feel loved. This means a national foster care recruitment plan and ending profit-making in residential care.
• Every young person leaving care must be supported to thrive – with priority housing, council tax exemption, and access to the higher Universal Credit rate from 18.”

The Department for Education has been approached for comment.

Lottie Winson