HIGH levels of inequality on the eve of the coronavirus pandemic meant that pupils in struggling families were hit hardest, children’s rights organisations told the Covid-19 inquiry today.

The comments by five charities were made during a preliminary hearing into the pandemic’s impact on children and young people.

Centre for Young Lives, the Child Poverty Action Group, Save the Children UK, Just for Kids Law and the Children’s Rights Alliance for England all gave evidence as core participants.

Significant inequality and a lack of political will to prioritise children before, during and after the Covid crisis created a “perfect storm” of challenges, they said.

High child poverty levels meant that families lacked financial resilience when the pandemic began and are still struggling today, a problem made worse by the cost-of-living crisis.

The charities called on the government to urgently boost the “woefully insufficient” recovery fund and legislate to ensure that children’s rights are enshrined in law.

Barrister Steve Broach KC, representing the organisations, told the inquiry that the impact of the pandemic on children had been devastating.

“The lack of focus on the rights and interests of children during the pandemic was systemic,” he said.

“This was not an unfortunate oversight for which particular individuals bore responsibility. 

“It resulted from a failure to embed the rights and interests of children in the centre of the machinery of government.
 
“Certain groups suffered worst — babies, whose parents who lost the support of health visitors … children and young people from black and racialised communities … and looked-after children, and children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.”

Evidence shows that inadequate protection of children during the pandemic contributed to an epidemic of poor mental health, widened inequalities in education outcomes and diminished life chances for children. 
 
The groups called for a dedicated national children’s recovery programme to improve children’s mental health and well-being and an adequate education recovery package.

They argued that education and well-being recovery measures following the pandemic have been “manifestly insufficient.”

The hearing came as a study by the London School of Economics (LSE) found that school absence rates in Britain has doubled from pre-pandemic levels.

It also found that absences were twice as persistent among pupils from low-income families, which contributed to a “widening socio-economic gap in educational achievement.”

The government has been contacted for comment.