Motion #04

‘Care Experience’ as a Protected Characteristic

Synopsis

The Green Party should recognise care experience as a protected characteristic and work to eliminate the range of potentially lifelong discrimination, stigma, and additional barriers that people with care experience face. All people with care experience should have every opportunity to thrive.

Motion

Insert into the Record of Policy Statements

The Green Party endorses ‘Care Experience’ as a protected characteristic under the Equalities Act 2010. The Equality Act (2010) enshrined ‘protected characteristics’ and outlawed discrimination based on them. The UK Government must treat care experience as a protected characteristic, which will also be reflected in the Public Sector Equality Duty.

The Green Party recognises the manner in which some members of society are treated adversely following having been in care as a young person and that care experienced people face discrimination, stigma, harassment, victimisation and additional barriers throughout their lives, including regarding housing, health, education, employment, relationships and in the criminal justice system. Often society doesn’t work to combat this which is unacceptable. Every care leaver should receive good support regardless of their geographical area.

Making care experience a protected characteristic provides care-experienced children and young people with lifelong protections from discrimination, and ensures that public bodies and organisations make policy decisions with care-experienced people in mind, for example, through Equalities Impact Assessments.

We request elected members to propose motions at their respective Local Authorities and Assemblies, ensuring people who have experience of being in care are thus protected, or to vote in favour should others propose motions. Alongside this, elected officials will push for pilots of Universal Basic Income (UBI) which would enable care-experienced young people to better access higher education and training, as well as allowing the state to act as a corporate parent in early adult life. Green Party councillors, as corporate parents, will push their councils to treat care experience as a protected characteristic and to provide the best possible care and safeguarding for the children looked after by their authority. Green Party councillors will champion children in care, hearing the voices of looked after young people, and challenging stigma and prejudice when it arises. They will work to support care leavers, reduce barriers and improve access to future opportunities and outcomes.

We request our Parliamentarians to propose the Equalities Act 2010 be updated to include ‘Care Experience’ as a protected characteristic, and to also champion care leavers as set out above.