Care leavers in Stockport given ‘protected characteristic’ status

Stockport Council has committed to treating being care experienced as a protected characteristic to help reduce the disadvantage faced by young people leaving the care system.

As a result of the commitment, future services and policies made and adopted by the council would be assessed and consider the impact on people with care experience in the same way as other Protected Characteristic recognised under the Equalities Act 2010. The list of characteristics currently protected under legislation are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

Cllr Wendy Meikle, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education for Stockport Council, explained:

“Care experienced people can face significant barriers, discrimination and inequalities which impact them throughout their life and society too often does not take their needs into account.”

This major step forward demonstrates the importance the council places on supporting care experienced people and recognises that young people’s experience of being in the care system can be a potential source of discrimination like other protected characteristics, such as race or disability. It will help the Council to seek to redress these inequalities and for the needs of care leavers to be considered within Equality Impact Assessments for any future policy changes. Cllr Meikle added:

“I am delighted that the Council has supported and approved being care experienced as a protected characteristic, proudly joining the many other councils who have adopted this nationwide.

“As corporate parents to the children and young people in our care and care leavers, we take those responsibilities extremely seriously. As such, we want to make sure that our children get the same opportunities in education, housing, employment, relationships, the justice system, and training, and in life generally, as other young people. However, we know that people who have been in care are more likely to face disadvantage and discrimination in life.

“We want all our young people to have the help they need when they need it, so to tackle this and to show the commitment we have, the decision to make care experience a protected characteristic will help level the playing field, make sure make sure that no child with care experience is discriminated against and that they have every opportunity to live fulfilling and successful lives without barriers.”

The Council has bought in the change following a recommendation within the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care 2022. The council now joins around 60 other local authorities who have also voted to make being care experienced a protected characteristic. The report, which highlighted the significant levels of discrimination, stigma and disadvantage faced by care experienced people in their day to day lives, said that ‘Government should make care experience a protected characteristic’ and concluded that this would ‘provide greater authority to employers, businesses, public services and policy makers to put in place policies and programmes which promote better outcomes for care experienced people’.