According to the former children’s commissioner, Anne Longfield, ministers are ill-equipped to handle the anticipated surge in exclusions and the consequent exploitation of thousands of children which could happen following the reopening of schools in September. Longfield issued a stark warning about kids who have fallen "off grid" since the start of the pandemic and the tens of thousands of children at risk of being exploited by gangs and criminals as they have not been monitored by the state. She expressed her concern that the rise in home-schooled children during the pandemic would also put many more kids at risk of exploitation, and she warned that the scale of the problem would only become visible after schools reopened in September. Longfield noted that the state was "absolutely not" equipped to deal with the problem, and tens of thousands of kids could be affected.
Longfield said, "We’ve had the prime minister talk about how he was going to ‘bite the head off’ county lines gangs, this year, I think he was going to ‘throttle the life out of them’. I’m pleased he’s noticed they’re there, and there’s a bit of money in the government’s crime plan. But it’s not of the scale needed. We’re making it too easy for criminals to exploit these kids."
In 2020, the number of students who were absent more than they attended increased by more than 30,000. The latest data on children considered in need, who were already being monitored by social services, revealed a 34% YoY rise in incidents in which gangs were identified as a factor. Additionally, there have been considerable increases in episodes in which drug abuse by kids (23%) and trafficking (21%) were identified.
A government representative informed that more than £45m had been recently invested to support specialist teams, assisting youngsters who were at risk of getting involved in violence to re-engage in education. The spokesperson also mentioned the allocation of £7m towards creating a charitable network aiding vulnerable kids and the £200m Youth Endowment fund, designed to prevent young people from drifting towards violence. The government confirmed that £130.5m is available in the coming year to tackle the root causes of violent crime.
Longfield disclosed her independent commission with Oasis Charitable Trust, which administers 52 schools in disadvantaged areas across the country, was assessing the extent of the problem and working towards reducing the number of children manipulated "as a commodity" by gangs. Longfield said, "We’re now looking at almost 100,000 kids who have had schooling severely disrupted. Clearly, when kids go back into school, that will be a point of shock. Charities are warning when Ofsted starts inspecting again, that will be the point where more exclusions happen. We know that’s a trigger point for kids becoming more at risk."
