by Edward Davies, CSJ Policy Director
One of the small mercies of the Covid-19 pandemic has been how little it has affected children. But our national response has closed the schools, services, and relationships on which they often rely. Vulnerability has been compounded, the poor hardest hit, and new problems have emerged.
In the months ahead, to name but a few problems, the government will have to address the collapse in the apprenticeship system (with starts down 46%), the re-emergence of previously managed addictions (relapse at almost 40%), and a school attainment gap getting wider by the day.
In the first instance they must urgently get Britain working again. Almost a third of working adults relied on the furlough scheme over the last year and millions more on Universal Credit. There are few things more damaging to a child’s future, and more likely to induce poverty, than a workless household.