Simpson Millar decided to look at the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on children and families across the UK by carrying out some research*.
We surveyed 1,000 parents about the impact of the Coronavirus on their family and themselves, and we found that these were some of the key issues:
Let's look at these issues in more detail.
If you would like to view the full report you can download this by clicking the link below.
Protecting our Children through Covid-19 Pandemic and Beyond
The data from our survey showed us that the Coronavirus pandemic and its consequences such as lockdown and school closures had a negative impact on both children and adults mental health. It showed that:
Our Education Law Solicitors are expecting an increase in anxiety levels for pupils returning to school after such a long time away, and this could manifest as an increase in behavioural incidents.
In addition, children with an EHCP will have lost some of their support services which could impact their mental health. This could result in difficulties in reintegrating into formal learning.
They consider that it would be counterproductive to focus only on any behavioural difficulties children face when they return to school.
Not only was there a negative impact on the mental health of children in lockdown, 53% of adults said that their mental health had been affected because of the challenges of balancing home working, home schooling and childcare.
There are some very clear indicators that activity levels have decreased in the children because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
When you look at this in more detail, parents said that the main reason for this was that it wasn’t easy to get to the supermarket during lockdown. Being unable to afford fresh fruit and vegetables was another reason given, along with the lack of school dinners.
It’s important to acknowledge the challenges that families with children with an EHCP have faced during lockdown.
These services are invaluable to the families and children, with social groups and activities and respite care being the most commonly missed support.
The Coronavirus Law temporarily reduced the responsibility of the Local Authority to provide services for children with EHCP, but if you want to talk to one of Education Law Solicitors about your circumstances, please do get in touch.
Many parents are still confused about how grades will be awarded to their children who were due to sit either GSCEs or A Levels in 2020. More than a quarter were not clear about how this would work.
We’re closely monitoring the situation with grading and we’ll comment further once the results have been issued in August.
*Research was commissioned by Simpson Millar and data was independently collected by Trinity McQueen, an independent Market Research Company. The online survey of 1,000 parents across the UK was carried out between 4 June 2020 and 19 June 2020.