Lib Dem MP Tom Brake is calling on the Minister for Children and Families to take further action on the ‘child in need’ review.

In England, 58,000 16 and 17-year-olds receive support from local authority children’s services.

On 16 March, the Department for Education launched a review into the educational outcomes of children in need of help or support. While the review is welcomed, new research from The Children’s Society has found that education is just one of the many areas where vulnerable 16 and 17-year-old children have poor outcomes.

Vulnerable children need the resources to deal with issues such as domestic violence, mental health problems and poverty. Research from The Children’s Society has found that help for vulnerable children this age is inadequate and at 18, support disappears. The Children’s Society are clear that this review must look at their wider outcomes such as employment, health, housing and safeguarding needs, and transitions for 16 and 17-year-olds into adulthood.

Tom Brake MP said:

“The Minister must take a further look into the research placed before him. It is important that we empower young people and give them the necessary help to have the best start in life. The findings from the Children’s Society are deeply worrying and I hope that the Government will look at them seriously and widen the areas that are being looked at.”

Brake has written to the Minister for Children and Families, Nadhim Zahawi MP, to call on him to make sure that the review considers the wider range of poor outcomes these children can experience and how the transition of vulnerable 16 and 17-year-old into adulthood can be improved.