Anne Longfield says children will be vulnerable to the knock-on effects of coronavirus, including economic meltdown
The government must work to tackle a “rising tide of childhood vulnerability” as the Covid crisis continues, the children’s commissioner Anne Longfield has said.
Ms Longfield has warned of an “inter-generational crisis”, meaning children’s futures will be determined by the economic impact of the pandemic on their families.
Ms Longfield said the country must now prioritise children.
In her new report Childhood in the Time of Covid, she writes:
“Even before the crisis struck, there were 2.2 million children in England living in households affected by any of the so-called ‘toxic trio’ of family issues: domestic abuse, parental drug and/or alcohol dependency, and severe parental mental health issues, including nearly 800,000 children living with domestic abuse and 1.6 million living with parents with severe mental health conditions.
“These numbers are likely to have swelled, fuelled by families locked down in close quarters for weeks and months, and an emerging economic crisis adding pressures on family finances.”
The report notes the extensive disruption to children’s education during lockdown and the widening of the attainment gap. Many vulnerable children, she writes, have suffered disproportionately due to “secondary risks” such as being in care.