West Berkshire Council has adopted a proposal that being a ‘care experienced’ person will be viewed as a protected characteristic.
Those people will be afforded the same protections and rights as other groups who are considered to have a protected characteristics in the Equalities Act 2010.
The move follows the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, published in May 2022 (The ‘Macallister Review’), which recognised the often-negative outcomes for people with care experience and recommended that the Government should make ‘care experienced’ a protected characteristic.
The final report recognised that there are a range of barriers and discrimination care leavers can face throughout life.
Examples include that 70 per cent of people who have been in care die earlier than would otherwise be expected.
Also, more than half of those in custody up to the age of 21 have been in care; and a quarter of the homeless population in England and Wales has experience of the care system.
West Berkshire says it is committed to being a good ‘corporate parent’, and the move was ratified at the council executive committee on Thursday.
