Children and Families – Page 205 – The NEN

Don’t miss out: claim Child Benefit by phone or post, HMRC tells new parents

Parents of new-borns will still be able to claim Child Benefit despite the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19), HMRC announced today.

Even though General Register Offices remain closed for now, parents can still claim Child Benefit without having to register their child’s birth first to ensure that they do not miss out.

First time parents will need to fill in Child Benefit Claim form CH2 found online and send it to the Child Benefit Office. If they haven’t registered the birth because of COVID-19, they should add a note with their claim to let us know.

If they already claim Child Benefit, they can complete the form or add their new-born’s details over the phone on 0300 200 3100. They will need their National Insurance number or Child Benefit number.

Child Benefit claims can be backdated by up to 3 months.

This announcement is timely as Child Benefit payments increased from 6 April to a weekly rate of £21.05 for the first child and £13.95 for each additional child. Child Benefit is paid into a parent’s bank account, usually every 4 weeks.

Only one person can claim Child Benefit for a child. For couples with one partner not working or paying National Insurance contributions (NICs), making the claim in their name will help protect their State Pension.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Jesse Norman, said: “We need people to stay at home in order to protect the NHS and save lives. Today’s change means new parents won’t miss out financially and can keep their families safe.

The government will do whatever it takes to support people and the NHS during this outbreak, and HMRC is working around the clock to help families and businesses across the UK.

Angela MacDonald, Director General for Customer Services at HMRC, said: “It’s really important that new parents remember to register for Child Benefit, even during these unprecedented times.

“The increase in Child Benefit is a boost for family budgets but there’s more to claiming than the payments. We’re encouraging people to claim so they don’t miss out on National Insurance credits that help protect their State Pension. It also helps children to get their National Insurance number automatically at 16.”

HMRC is reminding High Income Child Benefit Charge customers of the importance of claiming Child Benefit, even if they choose to opt out of receiving monetary benefits.

The tax charge applies to anyone with an income over £50,000 who claims Child Benefit or whose partner claims it. Even if you do have to pay the tax charge, you could still be better off by claiming Child Benefit – the tax is 1% of Child Benefit for each £100 of income over £50,000.

You can use the Child Benefit tax calculator to work out how much you may have to pay, or you can opt out of receiving Child Benefit payments altogether when you complete the form, so you won’t have to pay the charge but will still protect your State Pension.

If you need help or support with this, call Granton Information Centre on 0131 551 2459 or 0131 552 0458, email info@gic.org.uk

Wide range of support for families, says council

We’ve put in place a wide range of much-needed support for families of children with additional support needs during the Coronavirus pandemic, says the city council.

This is clearly a very worrying time for everyone in Edinburgh but even more so for those families with children who have complex needs and require additional support.

Our teams from across Children’s Services have worked tirelessly to put in place a series of measures across the city. These include:

Residential respite care at our own Seaview Centre and third sector partners Action for Children and Barnardo’s Caern targeting families most in need
Day care in two special school hubs for children of key workers and to provide respite to some families with children with complex needs
Our Additional Support for Learning service is taking a small number of children outdoors for activities as these children would struggle in a hub school due to their vulnerabilities.
We’re engaging with third sector providers to develop more bespoke one to one services for children with additional support needs to give families respite
The All of Us campaign with the NSPCC provides support and advice with parenting or the worries about family life and where to turn to if there are concerns about a child
Some families with children with disabilities/complex needs have been unable to get online supermarket deliveries as they cannot shop with their children due to their complex needs (i.e. ASD) so our staff are shopping and delivering supplies to them

Council Leader Adam McVey said: “Now more than ever we have to ensure there is continued support for children with additional support needs and their families during this pandemic.

We’ve put in place a series of initiatives to do just that and thanks must go to our hard-working staff and third sector partners who are providing these vital services.

Depute Leader Cammy Day said: “Our teams have been identifying families and contacting them in person which means those in the greatest need are benefiting from the wide range of services available.

In many cases it involves targeted one to one support which is crucial in supporting families and preventing the need for crisis respite.”

Moggy Modules make home schooling pawsome

Cats Protection comes to the rescue of parents struggling to make home schooling fun, with the Moggy Modules; five pawsome new free learning tools to keep kids happy and engaged.

Each of the online resource packs includes cat-themed worksheets, quizzes, creative writing exercises, feline facts, recipes and other fun learning activities linked to one of the five cat welfare needs; a place to live, behaviour, the right diet, good healthcare and space.

The packs have been created by Cats Protection’s educational experts to help young learners discover more about our feline friends and their welfare needs, with age-appropriate learning tools for children aged five-seven and seven-11.

Moggy Modules are free to download: https://education.cats.org.uk/moggy-modules-for-learning-at-home/

On completing #TheMoggyModules, children can download and print a colour certificate to celebrate their knowledge of the five cat welfare needs.

The Moggy Modules support Cats Protection’s call for animal welfare to be included as a mainstream topic in the National Curriculum to give children a basic understanding of how to respect and care for animals.

Shelley Brown, Cats Protection’s Education Team Manager, said: “Children learn best and stay focused longer if they enjoy what they are doing. Home schooling can be fun for families.

“Our Moggy Modules are designed to give parents a helping hand, while teaching children about better animal welfare and encouraging them to be better stewards of our environment for years to come.”

A social media campaign will encourage parents to share their stories, photos and videos on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using the #TheMoggyModules hashtag.

Cats Protection’s learning library has additional video resources: www.cats.org.uk/education

Easter childcare for key workers

Learning and childcare hubs for the children of key workers will remain open across Scotland over the Easter holidays.

The move will help support key workers in the NHS and other key sectors on the frontline of the response to coronavirus (COVID-19).

All of Scotland’s local authorities will keep learning and childcare hubs open in their areas to support children and young people. The number of hubs that are open, and the types of support they provide, will vary between each council area in response to local demand.

Education Secretary John Swinney said: “I am very grateful to colleagues in education and childcare who are working so hard to deliver this service.

“Clearly these are unprecedented times and this will be a very different Easter holiday period for teachers and pupils across the country. I would like to thank all of those who have volunteered to provide support over this time.

“Our key workers are on the frontline of the response to coronavirus and it’s only right that we do everything we possibly can to support them.

“By keeping learning and childcare hubs open in our local authorities, we can make sure children are safe and well looked-after while their parents are doing critical jobs helping our communities.”

Guidance on key workers

Key workers whose children already attend learning and childcare hubs will be contacted by their local authority to explain the arrangements over the spring break.

Local authority websites are being updated regularly with the latest information on the learning and childcare hubs and should be contacted directly for further information if necessary.

Concerns raised over escalating number of children needing additional support

Increase of over 97,000 in the number of pupils with ASN since 2012
Decline in number of specialist ASN teachers by 376 since 2012
Decline of almost £1000 spend per ASN pupil since 2012/13

An alliance of leading independent and third sector organisations, the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC), has called for greater resourcing to support children and young people with additional support needs (ASN), both during and after the Covid-19 crisis.

The call comes as new figures from the annual Scottish Government pupil census reveal that while the number of specialist teachers supporting those with ASN has dropped the number of those with ASN has escalated dramatically.

Between 2012 ¹ and 2019 ² the number of specialist teachers supporting those with ASN (publically funded primary, secondary, special and centrally employed) has decreased from 3,840 to 3,464, a decline of 376.

This fall is against the background of an overall increase by 82.9 per cent since 2012 in the number of pupils identified with ASN, from 118,034 ³ to 215,897 in 2019 ⁴,representing just under a third of all pupils (30.9 per cent).

Recently revealed figures also indicate that average spend per pupil on additional support for learning by local authority (primary, secondary and special education) has fallen from £4,276 in 2012/13 5 to £3,286 in 2018/19.

Against a background of a per pupil cut in spending and in specialist support, the SCSC has called for greater resourcing from both the Scottish Government and local authorities to ensure that those with ASN in Scotland’s schools, who disproportionately come from lower income families and areas of deprivation, are getting the care and support that they need.

It has also raised concerns about the effectiveness of a presumption of mainstreaming, meaning that all pupils are educated in a mainstream educational environment unless exceptional circumstances apply.

The fall in the number of specialist teachers is set against a background of dramatic increases in the reasons pupils being identified with ASN, such as autism, dyslexia and mental health problems, in Scotland’s schools.

A spokesperson for the SCSC commented: ““It is vital that those with ASN get the care and support they need, especially during and as we come out of the current Covid-19 crisis.

“This is also key if we are to genuinely close the educational attainment gap as we know that those with ASN disproportionately come from lower income families and areas of deprivation. Such a situation is clearly challenging in an environment of austerity and evidence of cuts in spending per pupil with ASN and in the number of specialist teachers supporting this group.

“While we also support the presumption of mainstreaming, which means that all children and young people are educated in a mainstream educational environment unless exceptional circumstances apply, it is clearly difficult to see how this is functioning properly for all those with ASN given this fall in specialist support and increase in the number of those identified with conditions such as autism and mental health problems.

“The Scottish Government and local authorities need to work together to provide the necessary resourcing to address the needs of those children and young people with ASN, who represent some of the most vulnerable individuals in our society.”

Early Learning and Childcare expansion put on hold

Local authorities will no longer be legally obliged to deliver 1140 hours of funded childcare from this August, the Scottish Government has announced.

Ministers have laid an order in the Scottish Parliament to revoke the statutory duty, allowing local authorities to focus on the coronavirus pandemic response.

Minister for Children and Young People Maree Todd and COSLA spokesperson for Children and Young People Councillor Stephen McCabe have issued a joint statement:

“Before the extent of the Covid-19 pandemic became clear a couple of weeks ago, Audit Scotland confirmed we were on track to deliver 1140 hours of early learning and childcare from August 2020. Indeed, Councils had already built or refurbished hundreds of buildings and recruited thousands of additional staff, and in excess of 50,000 children were already receiving more than the current entitlement of 600 hours.

“That progress was driven by and a testament to the strong partnership working between central and local government throughout the expansion programme. Our commitment to delivering the expansion, and to making sure our children have access to the best support and opportunities for development in their early years, remains undimmed and our partnership working will continue with that aim.

“However, in these exceptional circumstances it is not realistic or reasonable to expect that local authorities can deliver their original expansion plans to secure high quality experience for all children in time for August this year. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it impossible to continue with the planned recruitment and infrastructure projects required to support expansion. As we focus on saving lives and looking after people most vulnerable to the virus the immediate priority is to ensure that we have the emergency childcare in place to support families during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“To support local government with this critical response work, the Scottish Government has now moved to suspend the statutory duty on local authorities to provide 1140 hours of early learning and childcare from this August.

“Tens of thousands of children have already benefited from expanded hours, and we expect this will continue when normal provision resumes. Once there is a clearer picture of the impact and duration of the pandemic response measures, we will work together to agree the right time to reinstate the statutory requirement and ensure that all eligible children can access 1140 hours of high quality early learning and childcare.”

Demand for Childline increases as Scottish schools close

Hundreds of children across the UK counselled over impact of Coronavirus outbreak
Almost 20 per cent of these counselling sessions delivered in the Aberdeen and Glasgow Childline bases

Childline has experienced an unprecedented demand for its services as the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic starts to affect children’s lives.

There have been over 900 counselling sessions with children and young people about Coronavirus so far, nearly two thirds of which (597) took place last week (16-22 March), as parents started working from home and school closures were announced.

Almost 20 per cent (167) of these counselling sessions were delivered from the Aberdeen and Glasgow Childline bases.

Support for children worried about Coronavirus hit a peak on Wednesday 18 March – the day the Prime Minister confirmed UK schools would shut – with Childline delivering 121 counselling sessions on the issue in just one day.

Over half of young people who spoke to Childline last week about Coronavirus were counselled for their mental and emotional health as they struggled to cope with issues like isolation, arguments at home and the removal of professional support from schools and the NHS.

One teenage girl told a counsellor: “I feel really anxious, upset and lonely. The news has made my mental health worse but my CAMHS appointment has been cancelled and school has closed. I’m stuck at home having a horrible time because my sisters are bullying me because I’m autistic.”

NSPCC Scotland are in discussions with the Scottish Government and local authorities to give Childline staff key worker status as they battle to keep the vital service running, and continue to support children through this public health emergency.

While the service has reduced slightly since some volunteer counsellors have been told to self-isolate, it continues to be a lifeline for some of the most vulnerable children.

Last week Childline delivered over 50 counselling sessions with children who were having suicidal thoughts, exacerbated by Coronavirus as they felt trapped and isolated.

Other issues raised have included school work and family relationships, as children sense the seriousness of the situation through their parent’s reactions.

One girl told Childline: “My mum is being very distant with me and I am usually very close to her, it’s really upsetting me. My mum and I have a good relationship but she’s really obsessed with the news and she won’t hug me or get very close to me. It scares me to think this will go on for months. She constantly talks about the Coronavirus and my anxiety is getting worse.”

Most of the young people Childline has been supporting on the impact of Coronavirus are 12-15-year-old girls.

Dame Esther Rantzen, Founder of Childline, said: “Our dedicated volunteers are on the frontline supporting children through this public health emergency, and we couldn’t do it without them.

“Sometimes young people find it difficult to share their anxieties with their parents, for fear of worrying them further. So, it is important that families talk about their feelings, together.

“We are hearing from children who have been cut off from vital support networks such as school, and friends, and that has increased their feelings of loneliness and vulnerability. They may have pre-existing mental health issues which are exacerbated by the current crisis.

“Childline needs your help to let children and young people know that we are still here for them, and if they need someone to turn to, they can contact Childline via our website or on the phone.”

Peter Wanless, CEO of NSPCC, said: “The 24/7 news cycle about Coronavirus is causing huge worry and anxiety in young people – particularly those who are already coping with many other issues in their lives.

“Childline provides an essential service to vulnerable children, some of whom may be in a life-threatening situation, which is why our staff and volunteers are working tirelessly to keep Childline running.

“While we are all facing events unprecedented in modern time keeping children safe and providing them with a space to talk about their concerns is our number one priority.”

As well as calling Childline’s free confidential helpline on 0800 11 11, young people can also send emails to trained counsellors or receive support online via one-to-one chat by visiting childline.org.uk or by downloading the For Me app.

Parent Club support for parents and families

Advice for parents and carers on managing the impact of Covid-19 on their child’s learning and family life is now available.

Following school closures, a new hub of information has been created on parentclub.scot covering health information, advice on how to talk about Covid-19 and ideas on helping children through this time.

In addition; councils and headteachers can also advise parents and carers on the continued provision of education and childcare for key workers.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “This is the biggest challenge of our lives and my priority is to ensure the health and wellbeing of children and young people, and as far as possible, to minimise disruption to learning.

“My message for parents and carers is clear – you are not alone and we are here to help you. We do not expect you to be teachers or set up a classroom, but there are ways you can support your child or children at home which will help their continued wellbeing and learning.

“Our Parent Club website offers valuable tips for families on managing the impact of Covid-19 and ways to support children through this uncertain period.

“I would also highlight the excellent advice already provided by many organisations like Young Scot or Children 1^st that talk directly to young people about their concerns.”

BBC unveils children’s iPlayer experience

Families and children can now easily discover a wide range of entertaining and educational shows and films, with the launch of a new children’s experience on BBC iPlayer.

Rolling out on internet-connected TVs, it brings together the best from CBBC and CBeebies, and other suitable BBC programming, all in one place.

When selecting who’s watching iPlayer, there’s now a monster shaped ‘children’ button, which opens a treasure trove of viewing – from hit shows like Hey Duggee and Bing to David Walliams classics such as The Boy In The Dress, Gangsta Granny and Mr Stink – which return to iPlayer.

Children can easily find something to watch thanks to more ‘child-friendly’ categories, that let them pick and browse between Trending, Drama, Funny and Cartoons – as well as giving easy access to the CBeebies and CBBC channels.

The children’s experience has been designed to give confidence to parents and carers that kids are watching suitable shows – with content curated from across CBeebies, CBBC and other suitable BBC programmes and brands.

To make the service even more special, it has been given a distinctive, bright and bold design – helping children understand that this is a dedicated experience just for them.

Alice Webb, Director BBC Children’s and Education, says: “Keeping children informed, educated and entertained at home during these unprecedented times is going to be even more important than ever.

“Whether it’s being a number detective with the Numberblocks, going on a global adventure with Go Jetters, or learning about the planet’s deadliest animals with Deadly 60 – this new experience gives children of all ages a place to go to do that.

“We can’t promise solving the sibling tiffs over what to watch – but we can make it even easier to bring families and kids an incredible choice of shows and films on iPlayer. Children and parents can be assured the BBC will be for them during these challenging times.”

Dan Taylor-Watt, Director of Product, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, says: “We know more and more iPlayer viewing is happening on the biggest screen in the home.

“We’re now making that experience even better for children – so they have a safe place to enjoy their favourite shows, discover new ones – and learn more, especially at the moment. And over time, this experience will get even better, with recommendations increasingly tailored to them – making sure they get the best kids experience possible.”

Make us, not break us: Ferryhill plans for life post-Coronavirus

Schools will close today for all children and staff. The Council are working on the emergency arrangements that will be put in place from Monday, 30th March 2020.

We hope to be back in school by the end of June but this will be under the direction of the Scottish Government.

Should this not be the case, we will organise an event to bring our school and community together again. The current P7 children will be invited and at that event we will celebrate their time at Ferryhill.

This will include the opportunity for the signing of the sweatshirt as well as other celebrations to give them a proper send off from Ferryhill. It may take place in an evening. We will ask parents across the school for help with this.

This situation will make us, it will not break us !