26 | BIGISSUE.COM FROM 01 MARCH 2021

Carolyne Willow says new moves from the

Westminster government only make things worse

care crisis.

year ago last week, Education

Secretary Gavin Williamson

responded to a letter from the

coroner who investigated the

death of 17-year-old Jacob Bates.

Jacob had autism and had

taken his own life a�ter years of

struggling with his

mental health.

Having lived in “a succession

of secure placements under the

provisions of the Mental Health

Act 1983 and the Children Act

1989” from the age of 14, Jacob

was latterly put by children’s social care into an unregulated home, before

deciding he wanted to live with his dad.

Although he found no causal link between Jacob’s death and his time in

an unregulated setting, the coroner wrote to Williamson to prevent future

deaths of 16 to 18-year-olds living in this kind of accommodation. Two

former employees had told the inquest they were le�t in charge a�ter only a

short period working there, and

neither had previously worked with young people. The local authority had

not made appropriate checks on sta�fi ng and training or the organisation’s

policies.

The coroner summed up: “The lack of statutory regulation is placing

vulnerable young people at risk, and there is a realistic possibility that

deaths may occur.”

Williamson assured the coroner, in February last year, that “immediate

and decisive action” would be taken to tackle the

problem. He said a public consultation was under way. The outcome of

that consultation was published last week, and it is nothing short

of shameful.

The government has decided to ban unregulated accommodation only

for children in care aged 15 and under. In his foreword to the consultation

outcome document, Williamson states he “cannot imagine a circumstance

in which a child under the age of 16 should be placed in a setting that does

not provide care”. How many other parents are unable to conceive of 16 and

17-year-olds not needing care?

A

Britain’s most

vulnerable children

are being badly let

down. So who cares?