Pupils ‘easy prey for gangs’ when schools reopen

Anne Longfield has warned that ministers are completely unprepared to deal with the sharp rise in exclusions that could happen when schools reopen next month.

The former children’s commissioner was making a warning about the potential number of children who have fallen ‘off grid’ since the start of the pandemic, as well as the tens of thousands who could be exploited by gangs and criminals because the state had failed to keep track of them.

In an interview with the Observer, Longfield said that she was concerned that a rise in the number of children apparently home schooled during the pandemic would also put significantly more children at risk. The scale of the issue could become apparent in September when children return to the classroom.

However, she stressed that the government was ‘absolutely not’ prepared to deal with the problem, saying that ‘we’re way away from there being any kind of mainstream response’.

In autumn 2020, the number of pupils who were absent more than they were present rose by over 30,000. The most recent figures examining children regarded as being in need, who were already being monitored by social services, found a 34 per cent year-on-year increase in incidents in which gangs were identified as a factor.

Longfield revealed she was undertaking an independent commission with Oasis Charitable Trust, which runs 52 schools across the country in disadvantaged areas, to examine the scale of the problem and come up with ways to cut the number of children used ‘as a commodity’ by gangs.