Council                                                             Agenda Item 31

Subject:                    To recognise care leavers as a protected characteristic

Date of meeting:    20 July 2023

Proposer:                 Councillor McGregor

Seconder:                Councillor Muten

Ward(s) affected:   All

Notice of Motion

Labour Group

Council notes:

1. Care experienced people face significant barriers that impact them throughout their lives;
2. As corporate parents, councillors have a collective responsibility towards looked after children.
3. The Public Sector Equality Duty requires public bodies, such as councils, to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, and victimisation of people with protected characteristics in the exercise of its functions.

This Council resolves: 

4. To recognise that care experienced people are a group who are likely to face discrimination;
5. To recognise that Councils must put the needs of disadvantaged people at the heart of decision-making through co-production and collaboration;
6. That future decision, services and policies made and adopted by the Council should be assessed through Equality Impact Assessments to determine the impact of changes on people with care experience.
7. That in the delivery of the Public Sector Equality Duty the Council includes care experience in the publication and review of Equality Objectives.
8. To request a report is submitted to the relevant committees of the Council with a view to the Council adopting a policy so that care experience is treated as if it were a Protected Characteristic.
9. To formally call upon all other bodies to treat care experience as a protected characteristic.