Interesting links, articles, news and blog posts sent out to members on 30/05/25.
Booklet: Gordon Brown publishes new plan to tackle child poverty in Britain – The Office of Gordon & Sarah Brown
30 May 2025. The booklet sets out the sheer scale of child poverty in Britain: 4.8 million UK children will be living in poverty by 2029, with the number rising by nearly 100,000 each year:
Link: https://gordonandsarahbrown.com/gordon-brown-publishes-new-plan-to-tackle-child-poverty-in-britain/
News: No 10 delays child poverty strategy with tens of thousands more facing hardship – The Guardian Online
23 May 2025, Pippa Crear. Exclusive: Flagship policy put back until at least autumn amid fears cost of removing two-child benefit cap will outweigh political benefit:
Article: English schools to increase mental health support – why they need to get children involved in designing it – The conversation
20 May 2025, Gemma McKenna. The UK government has announced the continuing rollout of the provision of mental health support teams in schools in England, with the intention of providing six in ten pupils with this support by March 2026:
Opinion: Mental-health lessons in schools sound like a great idea. The trouble is, they don’t work – The Guardian Online
20 May 2025. Lucy Foulkes. All-class therapy sessions don’t help, and may even make matters worse. The evidence shows we need different solutions:
News: Princess of Wales’s taskforce provides backing for early years workforce – Nursery World
19 May 2025, Nicole Weinstein. Co-op and Deloitte are among the major businesses directing funding to support the early years workforce through the Royal Foundation Business Taskforce for Early Childhood:
Resource: Children’s mental health services 2023-24 – The Children’s Commissioner
18 May 2025. “As Children’s Commissioner, it is my job to make sure we never lose sight of the biggest challenges affecting children – mental health is one of the most significant. Each year, I publish this report to shine a spotlight on the state of children’s mental health services in England”:
Link: https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/childrens-mental-health-services-2023-24/
News: Urgent policy and practice overhaul needed to support children and young people in the UK with mental health and speech and language challenges – The Centre for Mental Health
14 May 2025. The link hiding in plain sight between children’s mental health and speech and language challenges is laid bare this Mental Awareness Health Week in a powerful joint statement by Speech and Language UK and Centre for Mental Health:
Article: Almost half of young people would prefer a world without internet, UK study finds – The Guardian Online
May 2025, Raphael Boyd. Half of 16- to 21-year-olds support ‘digital curfew’ and nearly 70% feel worse after using social media: