CHILDREN IN LOCKDOWN: RAPID ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS ON CHILDREN IN THE UK © Unicef/McIlwaine Unicef UK. Registered charity England & Wales (1072612) Scotland (SC043677) UK RAPID ASSESSMENT – CORONAVIRUS About this document ................................................................................................................................... 2 Summary of key issues ............................................................................................................................... 3 A challenging context .................................................................................................................................. 5 Loss of capacity across local authority-run services ............................................................................... 5 Loss of capacity across charity support services .................................................................................... 6 Loss of businesses providing services to children .................................................................................. 7 The impact of coronavirus on children ........................................................................................................ 8 Loss of education as a result of school closures ..................................................................................... 8 Childhood nutrition ................................................................................................................................ 11 Children pushed into poverty ................................................................................................................. 14 Disrupted access to child healthcare ..................................................................................................... 16 Access to maternity and neo-natal services .......................................................................................... 18 Childhood vaccinations ......................................................................................................................... 21 Sexual health ......................................................................................................................................... 21 Loss of health and healthy behaviours, including play .......................................................................... 23 Children’s mental health ........................................................................................................................ 25 Violence, abuse and neglect ................................................................................................................. 28 Online risks ............................................................................................................................................ 31 Difficult family relationships ................................................................................................................... 33 Coronavirus, policing powers and children ............................................................................................ 35 Children facing additional risks ................................................................................................................. 37 Children in detention ............................................................................................................................. 37 ‘Looked after’ children ........................................................................................................................... 39 Children affected by reduced court activity ........................................................................................... 41 Children who are homeless or in unsuitable accommodation ............................................................... 44 Children whose families are separated ................................................................................................. 46 Children whose parents or carers face increased risk from coronavirus ............................................... 48 Young carers ......................................................................................................................................... 50 Refugee and asylum-seeking children .................................................................................................. 52 Children at risk of stigma due to coronavirus ........................................................................................ 54 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................. 55 ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT This document aims to provide a rapid overview and assessment of the expected impact on children and families of coronavirus and the measures brought in to restrict its spread. It is intended to give a brief review of a wide range of topics, in line with Unicef’s commitment to children’s rights in their entirety. This document was originally intended only to support internal decision-making around Unicef UK’s response to the current pandemic. We have made it publicly available, however, as it is hoped that this rapid review could be a useful resource for others seeking to support children during this time. This document has been drafted rapidly, and at a time when things are continuing to change on a daily basis. Much is reliant on predictions about the scale of the outbreak, the period of economic and social restrictions and the speed of the economic recovery. These predictions are being developed in the absence of much firm knowledge and they are changing almost hourly. In many cases, the expected impact is described in qualitative, rather than quantitative terms, because of the difficulty of predicting how many people will be affected, and what resilience and resource they may be able to call on. In general, however, we would expect that those with the highest incomes, greatest social resources and fewest health problems will cope best, while those already struggling to manage a combination of low income, social isolation, mental and physical health problems will find it hardest to cope. Many of the impacts described here will be most acute during the coming months when social isolation and school and business closures are in place. However, there will be many longer-term impacts, particularly as a result of the economic fallout, including job losses and reduced wages. This document seeks to identify both the immediate and the longer-term impacts with the hope that early support could prevent some of these long-term effects staying with this generation of children well into adulthood. 2 SUMMARY OF KEY ISSUES Children’s lives have been turned upside down by coronavirus. Already the response is exposing the fragile situation that many children and young people live in. Hundreds of thousands of children who rely on school, health and social systems and the support of the voluntary sector are being left unprotected as these systems are weakened. Thousands more, unknown to the system, will likely find themselves in need of support over the coming weeks, but as yet remain invisible to authorities. This report covers a wide range of expected impacts on children. Below, we highlight a few of the key concerns. Loss of education: School closures will impact all children in the UK, but some will be far worse affected than others. Some children will face considerable challenges to continued learning at home. Schools, and organisations like the BBC, have made many learning resources available online, but 7% of children do not have access to a fixed broadband connection and 2% do not have any access to the internet at home. As a result, we are concerned about widening educational disparity between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged children. Short-term closures and the potential loss of private sector-run nurseries in the longer term are likely to contribute further to inequality in education outcomes by reducing access to early childhood education. Maternity care: There are concerns about staff shortages in NHS maternity units and the closure of more than a fifth of midwife-led units. Antenatal care is also being affected with more appointments being carried out remotely, and some missed altogether. The pressures that these services face will undoubtedly increase the risks for some mothers and babies. Support for new mothers to breastfeed will be significantly reduced, and as a result, breastfeeding rates may drop substantially, leading to potential long-term health issues for baby and mum. The loss of choice and the stress of giving birth in these circumstances will also increase the risk of postpartum depression and anxiety among new mothers, while support following birth will also likely be reduced. Child nutrition: Despite government schemes to provide alternatives for the 1.7 million children eligible for Free School Meals, we have concerns that families, especially those also facing job and income loss, will struggle to provide nutritious meals to their children for £3 per day, and that some lack the resources and an appropriately equipped kitchen to ensure that children eat healthily. Households who are self-isolating may be unable to access food at all. Children who are already struggling with food insecurity, and those with ‘no recourse to public funds’ will be especially at risk. Foodbank providers have seen rapid increases in the demand for emergency food parcels and are also reporting a drop in food donations.