ADPH welcomes new Children’s Wellbeing & Schools Bill

Earlier today, the Government introduced its new Children’s Wellbeing and School’s Bill.

The bill will introduce new registers to identify children who are not in school and paves the way for a unique identifier number for children across services.

In addition, parents will no longer have an automatic right to educate their children at home if their child is subject to a child protection investigation or under a child protection plan and, if a child’s home environment is assessed as unsuitable or unsafe, local authorities will have the power to intervene and require school attendance for any child.

ADPH has welcomed the bill’s strong focus on safeguarding children, preventing vulnerable young people from falling through the cracks, and prioritising earlier intervention to address risks before they escalate. We particularly welcome the Government’s recognition that protecting children requires a holistic approach—strengthening families, improving services, and ensuring every child can thrive regardless of circumstance.

Find out more about our current project, funded by The Health Foundation, which aims to develop stronger partnerships across the children’s sector and aims to share learning from different approaches across the UK to improve public health practice and reduce health inequalities for children and young people.