Care Experience – Protected Characteristic Motion
Preamble
(a) Councillors on the Corporate Parenting Panel have heard directly about the discrimination that our cared for and care experienced children and young people experience on a regular basis.
(b)
(The term ‘care leavers’ and ‘care
experienced’ are used interchangeably. In recent years, the care experienced community
has expressed a preference for this term to be used. However, the term ‘care leavers’ is
entrenched in law and statute and as such, whilst Local Authorities
and other partner agencies can change the term that they use, the
term ‘care leavers’ will remain in some
form).
(c) The Public Sector Equality Duty requires public bodies, such as councils, to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, and victimisation of people with protected characteristics.
(d) The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care headed by Josh McCallister published in May 2022 a final report and recommendations that concluded:
“Government should make care experience a protected characteristic following consultation with care experienced people and the Devolved Administrations” and “New legislation should be passed which broadens corporate parenting responsibilities across a wider set of public bodies and
organisations.
“Many care experienced people face discrimination, stigma, and prejudice in their day to day lives. Public perceptions of care experience centre on the idea that children are irredeemably damaged and that can lead to discrimination and assumptions being made.
“This stigma and discrimination can be explicit, and often comes with assumptions about the likely characteristics of children and adults that have care experience. They can also be implicit and are evidenced in the way care experience is discussed in schools, workplaces, and the media. At its worst this can lead to care experienced people being refused employment, failing to succeed in education or facing unfair judgements about their ability to parent when they have children and families of their own.”
This Council therefore recognises that:
(a) Cared for and care experienced people are a defined group who face discrimination;
(b)
It has a duty to put the needs of such people at the
heart of decision-making through co-production and
collaboration;
(c) Henceforth, future decision, services and policies made and adopted by Darlington Borough Council should be assessed through Equality Impact Assessments to determine the impact of changes on people with care experience, alongside those who formally share a Protected Characteristic.
Resolution
Council resolves to:
(a) Treat care experience as if it were a Protected Characteristic and formally call upon all other bodies it partners or contracts with to treat care experience as a Protected Characteristic until such time as it may be introduced by legislation.
(b)
Proactively seek out and listen to the voices of
care experienced people when developing new policies.
(c)
Ask the Council’s senior leaders to work with
Human Resources to provide opportunities for young people with care
experience to obtain work experience as part of Darlington Borough
Council’s corporate parenting responsibilities.
(d)
Write to the Secretary
of State to call for care experience to be treated as a Protected
Characteristic, which would protect care leavers against
discrimination in the same way as the law protects against factors
such as age, race, religion and sexual orientation.
(e) Write to the Borough’s two MP’s to ask for their support in line with Resolves (d) above.
Minutes:
The following Motion was moved by Councillor Wallis, and seconded by Councillor Allen:
a) Councillors on the Corporate Parenting Panel have heard directly about the discrimination that our cared for and care experienced children and young people experience on a regular basis.
b) (The term ‘care leavers’ and ‘care experienced’ are used interchangeably. In recent years, the care experienced community has expressed a preference for this term to be used. However, the term ‘care leavers’ is entrenched in law and statute and as such, whilst Local Authorities and other partner agencies can change the term that they use, the term ‘care leavers’ will remain in some form).
c) The Public Sector Equality Duty requires public bodies, such as councils, to
eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, and victimisation of people
with protected characteristics.
d) The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care headed by Josh McCallister published in May 2022 a final report and recommendations that concluded:
“Government should make care experience a protected characteristic
following consultation with care experienced people and the Devolved
Administrations” and “New legislation should be passed which
broadens corporate parenting responsibilities across a wider set of
public bodies and organisations.”
“Many care experienced people face discrimination, stigma, and
prejudice in their day to day lives. Public perceptions of care experience
centre on the idea that children are irredeemably damaged and that
can lead to discrimination and assumptions being made.
“This stigma and discrimination can be explicit, and often comes with
assumptions about the likely characteristics of children and adults that
have care experience. They can also be implicit and are evidenced in the way care experience is discussed in schools, workplaces, and the
media. At its worst this can lead to care experienced people being
refused employment, failing to succeed in education or facing unfair
judgements about their ability to parent when they have children and
families of their own.”
This Council therefore recognises that:
(a) Cared for and care experienced people are a defined group who face
discrimination;
(b) It has a duty to put the needs of such people at the heart of decision-making through co-production and collaboration;
(c) Henceforth, future decision, services and policies made and adopted by
Darlington Borough Council should be assessed through Equality Impact
Assessments to determine the impact of changes on people with care
experience, alongside those who formally share a Protected Characteristic.
Council resolves to:
(a) Treat care experience as if it were a Protected Characteristic and formally call upon all other bodies it partners or contracts with to treat care experience as a Protected Characteristic until such time as it may be introduced by legislation.
(b) Proactively seek out and listen to the voices of care experienced people when developing new policies.
(c) Ask the Council’s senior leaders to work with Human Resources to provide
opportunities for young people with care experience to obtain work
experience as part of Darlington Borough Council’s corporate parenting
responsibilities.
(d) Write to the Secretary of State to call for care experience to be treated as a Protected Characteristic, which would protect care leavers against
discrimination in the same way as the law protects against factors such as age, race, religion and sexual orientation.
(e) Write to the Borough’s two MP’s to ask for their support in line with Resolves (d) above.
The Motion was carried.
NOTE: The Mayor used her discretion to vary the Agenda, and took the items at Minute 20 (1) and Minute 20 (2) immediately following the Questions submitted at Minute 15.