Nursery World - Babies ignored in Government’s Covid catch-up plans, campaigners warn

A campaign to put babies on an equal footing to school children in the Government’s Covid catch-up programme has been launched by The First 1001 Days Movement.

600,000 babies have been born in England since the first lockdown began

The coalition of 200 children’s charities, including Action for Children, Home-Start UK, the Institute for Health Visiting and the Parent-Infant Foundation, is calling on the Government to give babies an equal route out of the pandemic by extending the Covid catch-up funding to younger children.

The Government has announced a £1.7bn fund to support school children, but there has been no support earmarked for babies.

Matching the amount given per school-aged child would deliver £117m for the 600,000 babies born in England since the first lockdown began, which is £191 per baby, the First 1001 Days Movement said.

To raise awareness of the harms suffered to ‘invisible’ babies during the pandemic, the campaign is calling on grandparents, carers, sisters and brothers across the UK to share their babies' ‘missed moments’ in the #WhatAboutUs campaign.

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