Overview

The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill aims to improve the safeguarding and welfare of children in England, enhance support for children in care, regulate children's social care and educational institutions more effectively, and address school attendance issues.

Description

This bill is wide-ranging and covers several key areas:

Children's Social Care:

• Introduces family group decision-making meetings before care orders are sought.
• Includes childcare and education agencies in safeguarding arrangements.
• Establishes multi-agency child protection teams.
• Improves information sharing and introduces consistent identifiers for children.
• Expands support for children in kinship care and care leavers, including a "kinship local offer" and enhanced support for care leavers' transition to adulthood.
• Addresses the accommodation of looked-after children through regional cooperation arrangements and clarifies the use of accommodation for deprivation of liberty.
• Grants the Children and Families Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) new powers to impose monetary penalties on children's home providers and foster agencies that fail to meet standards.
• Introduces financial oversight for certain children’s social care providers and the power to limit their profits.
• Regulates the use of agency workers in children's social care.
• Extends the offence of ill-treatment or wilful neglect to children aged 16 and 17 in regulated establishments.
• Introduces new restrictions on the employment of children in England.

Schools:

• Mandates free breakfast club provision in primary schools.
• Strengthens food standards in academies.
• Limits the number of branded items required in school uniforms.
• Requires local authority consent before certain children can be withdrawn from school.
• Creates a register of children not in school and establishes school attendance orders for non-attendance.
• Expands the regulation of independent educational institutions, including powers to suspend or deregister them, and introduces prevention orders for unregistered institutions.
• Enhances the powers of inspectors to investigate and share information.
• Extends the teacher misconduct regime to a wider range of educational settings, including online education providers.
• Reinforces the duty of academy schools to follow the National Curriculum.
• Provides for greater cooperation between schools and local authorities on admissions and the provision of school places.
• Amends the process for establishing new schools.

Government Spending

The bill will likely lead to increased government spending on children's social care and education. Specific figures are not provided in the bill text.

Groups Affected

• Children: Improved safeguarding, support, and educational opportunities.
• Families: Increased involvement in decision-making regarding children's welfare.
• Children's social care providers: Greater regulation and potential financial penalties for non-compliance.
• Schools and academies: New duties and responsibilities regarding breakfast clubs, uniforms, attendance, and the National Curriculum.
• Independent educational institutions: Increased regulation, inspections, and potential penalties for non-compliance.
• Local authorities: Increased responsibilities for safeguarding, support, school attendance, and new school establishment.
• Teachers: Extended misconduct regime and potential changes to pay and conditions (Academies).
• Parents: New duties regarding information provision and school attendance.

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