More than 192,000 children in England and Wales have parents who are currently in jail, new figures have revealed.
It is the first time the government has shown the scale of young people impacted – an estimated 192,912 – who, without support, often follow their parents into crime, studies show.
But charities say releasing the statistics is only “the first step”, and are now calling for the new government to do more to support the “invisible children” who are “falling through the cracks”.
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Labour has a history of campaigning on the issue in opposition, with the now energy minister Kerry McCarthy bringing forward a private members’ bill, calling for national guidelines, ensuring the state identifies any children at the point of sentencing, and accountability for giving them support.
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The thrust of her bill made it into Labour’s general election manifesto, which said: “The children of those who are imprisoned are at far greater risk of being drawn into crime than their peers. We will ensure that those young people are identified and offered support to break the cycle.”
However, the commitment failed to appear in the King’s Speech on Wednesday, which outlined the government’s policy agenda for the next 12 to 18 months.
Sky News understands ministers are still committed to the policy, but there is still no clear timetable for when it will become a reality.
Kerry McCarthy campaigned on the issue when in opposition and got it into the Labour manifesto. Pic: Sky News
Former Conservative justice secretary Alex Chalk, who just lost his cabinet role and his seat in Labour’s landslide election win, told Sky News he would expect the Conservatives to support such plans as they had “laid the ground for it”.
In fact, the figures released today were ordered by the Tories in 2021 as part of their prison strategy whitepaper.
“We did it to get a grasp of the scale of the issue,” said Mr Chalk. “And it is well documented that children whose parents have been jailed face adversity and are badly affected.
“Every study shows that when it comes to policy around protecting children you go hard and you go early… and tackling this was already in flight when we left office.”
Alex Chalk was justice secretary under Rishi Sunak, but lost his job after losing his Cheltenham seat Pic: Simon Walker / No 10 Downing Street
Felix Tasker, who works on policy for Children Heard And Seen – a charity supporting children and families affected by parental imprisonment – said there was “a lot of shame and stigma” placed on young people for the crimes of parents that they are not responsible for.
“We have seen incidents of children being attacked, being bullied at school, told by other children that if their parent had done that crime they would kill themselves,” he told Sky News.
“Especially when it comes to sexual offences, remaining families often have to relocate to get away from the backlash in the community, and the child at that point might not even know about the crime.
“We have even seen cases of children living completely on their own and there is just no mechanism in place to identify them.”
He added: “There are many studies about how the difficult and complex issues they face ends up with children of prisoners going on to offend themselves.
“They fall through the cracks… they are invisible children, and they need support.”
Children Heard And Seen welcomed the publication of today’s figures, but Mr Tasker said the government “still don’t know who those children are”.
He reiterated the charity’s calls for a statutory requirement to identify children with a parent in prison, and said that, along with the provision of government figures, was “the first and most important step”.
But after that, the organisation wants to see the support come forward, rooted in a child’s school, and to see those children eligible for a Pupil Premium payment.
A government spokesperson said: “Growing up with a parent in prison can have a devastating impact on a child’s life chances, which is why this government has committed to providing these children with the support they need to flourish and thrive.
“This report provides a clear picture of the scale of the challenge and is an important step in breaking the cycle of crime that parental imprisonment all too often brings.”