The NSPCC is calling on the new UK Government to follow Scotland and Wales and end the use of physical punishment of children in England. It comes as the organisation’s physical punishment helpline saw calls triple in a single year. Joanna Barrett, Associate Head of Policy (Devolved Nations) at NSPCC outlines the latest evidence that’s…
Proper support for young adult carers is long overdue
June 10th marks the start of Carers Week in the UK. This year’s awareness-raising week takes place just over a decade from when the Care Act received Royal Assent. . The Act promised that people who looked after family and friends due to disability, illness or addiction would no longer have their needs ignored and…
Childhood obesity post-pandemic: a debt to society
In 2023 the Chief Executive of the British Heart Foundation warned the Government not to put the brakes on its anti-obesity policies, adding that the resulting heart and circulatory disease would cost the economy £58m per year. Charmaine Griffiths said that after a flurry of early activity, a ‘bold strategy’ to address obesity was now…
Urgent need for action to support carers’ mental health
Health leaders are being urged to make policy changes to safeguard the mental health of unpaid carers as new evidence reveals the negative effects of taking on the role – including those who do so at a young age. The research is featured in a new Parliamentary report which also highlights an ‘urgent need’ for…
Do caregivers’ children reach milestones earlier?
The number of looked-after children in England has risen significantly in the past three decades, and around three quarters are placed with foster families. Many of those families have children of their own: what are the longer-term effects on them? In this blog Amanda Sacker and colleagues describe research which set out to shed light…
They care! We need to care about them
There have been calls in recent weeks and months for MPs to pledge their support to young carers. Young carers themselves have written to the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to ask him “to ensure that the needs of children and young people who are caring unpaid for friends and family members are being considered so…
How can schools and communities help children with violent home lives?
The UK Government’s Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, published in 2022, set out a series of measures aimed at supporting schools and other bodies to help children whose home lives are blighted by violence. In this blog, Dawid Gondek from the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health describes new research conducted with colleagues from…
Taking a ‘positive’ look at child health development
Reducing, tackling and mitigating experiences that hurt or damage the physical and mental health of children as they grow up has been a major focus for policymakers, practitioners and researchers. In recent months research led by Rebecca Lacey looking at Adverse Childhood Experiences – their different impacts and lifecourse implications- has featured regularly on our…
Why it’s time to care more about the UK’s young caregivers
There have been growing concerns about the number of young carers in the UK and how looking after someone else might affect their life and put them at a disadvantage compared with their peers. Initial findings from a new study looking at the prevalence of caregiving among 16-29 year-olds in the UK has highlighted the…
What do we know about the health of young carers – and is it enough?
Care systems in many countries are underpinned by the efforts of huge armies of informal carers, many of whom are children. And while there is official recognition in some countries that these young carers suffer poorer health than their peers, there have been few studies highlighting the particular effects of caring on this group. Rebecca…