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England's ex child welfare advocate has told the Covid-19 inquiry that the administration should say sorry to youngsters for the harmful errors and flawed decisions it made during the health crisis.

Cycle of Fatalism Within Officials Led to Inability to Help Young People

Presenting evidence to the inquiry’s public hearing, Anne Longfield said that a “doom loop” within ministers meant the government failed to do enough to help children.

Longfield claimed that the extended lockdowns and school closures were to blame for the surge in psychological, wellbeing and conduct difficulties continuing to affect the youth.

These young individuals who lived through the Covid pandemic – some of whom will now be grown-ups and others are just starting their education – are owed a official sorry from the prime minister in parliament once the investigation has released its final report,” Longfield said.

Formal Apology Would Acknowledge Avoidable Mistakes and Damage Caused

“An apology would give the authorities an opportunity to publicly recognise the avoidable mistakes and the damage that was done to many young people's welfare, education, physical condition, growth, and safety, following decisions that were taken by the then government in the pandemic years.

“It would be a chance to apologise, and to assure that insights really will be taken on board, in case of a future health crisis or public crisis in the future.”

Children’s Interests Came Behind to Bars, Stores and Older People

Longfield stated her recommendations or views were rarely sought by the administration throughout the health crisis, and informed the inquiry that the needs of young people often “came behind in the line to bars, shops, amusement centres but also grown-ups, throughout”.

Social Care Provision Reduced Throughout Crisis

She was particularly critical of the government’s choice to drop many elements of social care provision during the health crisis, including weakening requirements for check-ins to at-risk youngsters.

Limitations on home checks and the growing use of online interviews enabled some households to evade or conceal their living conditions, Longfield indicated.

“Households, if they wanted to, could quite quickly see how they could hold the meeting in a neat, very clean room, and the other parts of the home might not be the identical,” Longfield said.

The lower requirements implied social workers were unable to talk to vulnerable children without their parents there, or to consult other relatives who might have worries.

Lack of Creative Solutions in Schools and Social Work

The former commissioner said she was disappointed that the government failed to use any inventive thinking regarding schools and child protection that other parts of government, such as the NHS, had employed to solve challenges.

“There wasn’t the kind of Nightingale moment that hospitals got, in schools. Numerous measures could have been handled in another way around keeping schools open but they were not.

“Similarly with child welfare, [the government] moved directly to an outcome around diluting responsibilities,” she said.

After-Effects Continue to Affect Children

She said the after-effects on the youth were still being felt, referring to the doubling in long-term non-attendance from education, the 80% increase in support schemes provided for children with special needs, and a tripling in autism spectrum diagnoses in youngsters since before the pandemic.

Longfield commented the evidence “is completely conclusive on the rise in virtually every indicator of [increased] risk, from pre-Covid to now”.