Celebrities including the tennis player Andy Murray, the actor David Harewood and the singer-songwriter Rita Ora have joined children’s charities and childhood development experts to call for a national “baby and toddler guarantee”.
They have signed an open letter to the prime minister demanding urgent action to help people with babies and young children to access vital services.
Organised by Unicef UK, the letter says UK families are struggling to access services including maternity, health visiting, mental health support, affordable, high-quality childcare, and support for special educational needs and disabilities (Send).
Children’s centres and childcare settings have shut, health visitor appointments have been lost because of staff cuts, and mental health support for parents and children is hard to access, the letter says. The baby and toddler guarantee would set out the basic services every young child is entitled to, and ensure they get the proper support they need, wherever they live.
The actors Olivia Colman and Ewan McGregor, the former journalist and politician Martin Bell, the TV presenter Cat Deeley and the explorer Levison Wood have also signed the appeal alongside the NSPCC, Save the Children UK and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Jon Sparkes, Unicef UK’s chief executive, said: “Every child deserves a bright future, but as families recover from the impacts of the pandemic and face unprecedented rises in the cost of living, this future is under threat.
“Basic services like health visits and mental health care provide essential support that households need during these turbulent times. They should be there for every baby and young child during their vital early years, but across the country, this isn’t the case and urgent action is needed.”
A petition calling for the government to commit to the guarantee has been signed by almost 50,000 members of the public. More than 300 parents have shared their experiences to illustrate the crisis.
One Northamptonshire mother said: “I have twin boys who I found myself being a single parent to, and they saw a health visitor just once before their second birthday. I had massive postnatal depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and I was forgotten.”
A mother in Kent described her battle to get help for her preschool-age son, who is autistic. “The early-years provision in the area has been awful. We’ve struggled to get any help since my son was diagnosed. We’re struggling to even get access to the nursery hours we’re paying for and can’t get any additional help […] When he starts school, it’s likely it will take me out of my job permanently as there is no Send provision in the area during the school holidays.”
The letter to Rishi Sunak says: “Families in Britain need your help now. Summer holidays are just around the corner and instead of looking forward to fun-packed, carefree days, many families are faced with the worrying reality of not being able to put food on the table as they struggle to make ends meet.”
A government spokesperson said: “We are rolling out the largest expansion in free childcare in history, worth £6,500 a year for an average working family using 30 hours a week and delivering a cost of living support package worth an average of £3,300 per household.
“On top of this, we are providing a holiday and activities food programme which is backed by £200m per year to 2025, and expanding and transforming mental health services in England so that two million more people will be able to get the mental health support they need.”
