ALLIANCE signs joint briefing supporting children’s rights in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
- Area of Work: Children and Young People, Policy and Research
- Type: News Item
- Published: 1st May 2025
The ALLIANCE is one of over 110 organisations backing a joint briefing on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
The ALLIANCE is pleased to be one of more than 110 organisations backing a joint parliamentary briefing ahead of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill Second Reading in the House of Lords on 1 May.
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is described as a key step towards delivering the Government’s ‘Opportunity Mission’ to break the link between young people’s background and their future success. However, the Bill currently lacks explicit measures to ensure that children’s rights are systematically considered in law and policy-making – a key gap in any agenda that seeks to improve children’s lives and opportunities.
There is also currently no statutory requirement for the UK Government to consider children’s rights and best interests when developing or reviewing laws and policies that directly or indirectly impact children. This contrasts with Wales, Scotland and Jersey, which all have statutory measures in place.
The briefing—led by the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE), UNICEF UK and NSPCC, for the Children’s Charities Coalition—calls for two achievable but powerful changes to the Bill:
- A statutory duty on Ministers to consider children’s rights
- A requirement to publish Child Rights Impact Assessments (CRIAs) for relevant policies and legislation
Alongside our members including Together, Child Poverty Action Group, Family Fund and Includem, we want to see the full and direct incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into UK law, to transform the way in which children’s rights are respected, protected and fulfilled.
This matters because failing to explicitly and systematically consider children’s rights, including at the earliest stage of policy-making, means that laws and policies are not always developed with children’s unique needs and best interests in mind. asylum-seeking children, those living in poverty, and racially minoritised children. Requiring policymakers to routinely consider impacts on children would also ensure that children have visibility and voice in legislative and policy-making processes.
These reforms would embed children’s rights into UK Government policymaking, in line with the UK’s international obligations.
Read the full joint briefing here.
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