Coventry City Council has unanimously approved new protections for young people who have spent time in care as they build their lives and careers.
The new motion means that spending time in care is now a locally protected characteristic.
It will aim to tackle any stigma or prejudice faced by young people in care.
Other protected characteristics include: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
Recognising these characteristics is crucial for employers to comply with legal obligations and build inclusive and equal workplaces.
It helps to eliminate discrimination, harassment, and victimisation.
Matt Clayton, Strategic Lead – Children in Care, Children with Disabilities and Care Leavers, said: “Coventry has a strong reputation for support to care leavers and this further builds on these foundations.
“Many care-experienced people face discrimination, stigma, and prejudice in their day-to-day lives. Public perceptions of care experience centre on the idea that children are irredeemably damaged and that can lead to discrimination and assumptions being made.“At its worst this can lead to care experienced people being refused employment, failing to succeed in education or facing unfair judgements about their ability to parent when they have children and families of their own.
“We are proud to recognise care experience as a protected characteristic and we hope that will help our young people and inspire other employers to take the same step and ensure they are treated equally and fairly as they go on to build their lives and careers.”
Recognising care experience as a protected characteristic means the Council will:
- Treat care experience as if it were a Protected Characteristic and formally call upon all other bodies it partners or contracts with to treat care experience as a Protected Characteristic until such time as it may be introduced by legislation.
- Proactively seek out and listen to the voices of care experienced people when developing new policies.
- Ask the Council’s senior leaders to work with Human Resources to provide opportunities for young people with care experience to obtain work experience as part of Coventry City Council’s corporate parenting responsibilities.
- Write to all public bodies represented in the city and the Chamber of Commerce to make them aware of this motion and issues facing care experienced to understand what corporate parenting means for them.
The Council will also now write to the Secretary of State and to the city’s three MPs to call for care experience to be treated as a Protected Characteristic, which would protect care leavers against discrimination in the same way as the law protects against factors such as age, race, religion and sexual orientation.
Coventry has over 600 young people who are classed as care leavers.
They face a range of barriers in their young lives, including leaving care at the age of 18, where the average for most young people leaving home is 27.