On 13 May 2025, Bishop Helen-Ann spoke on proposed amendments to the Employment Rights Bill during the Committee Stage in the House of Lords. Read her full speech below.
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Palmer of Childs Hill, for tabling amendments 78 and 79, to which I have added my name in support. My comments will be brief. I add my voice to other noble Lords in appreciation of the debates in the Chamber today on the detail of the Bill before us which in many ways indicate the interrelatedness of the issues before us and about what it is to live well together to enable the flourishing of every person throughout their whole lives.
I’m very grateful to the noble baroness the Minister for her engagement with me on the matter of kinship care over several months and I acknowledge the government’s evolving view on how best to ensure consistent and sustainable support for kinship carers. I appreciate that the Minister is open to further conversations, and I look forward to these. Part of the challenge is providing a clear, agreed and workable definition of kinship care and there is more work to be done on this, recognising that Amendment 79 sets out to do this. It is about finding the right balance to achieve what is needed in supporting kinship carers and not so open as to be unworkable in law and unrealistic in affordability. That to me is a challenge (it is around the parameters of what kinship care is) but I don’t think this challenge is unresolvable. However, the longer we take to get to this point the more lives are being impacted. Kinship carers are over-represented in the health, education and social care sectors so the withdrawal from this labour market has an obvious impact on wider society. The northeast region which I serve has the highest rates of children in kinship care and the impact of this in real terms given multiple and systemic factors of inequality is immense.
Amendment 78 would grant kinship carers the right to take statutory paid leave, as the noble Lord, Lord Palmer has said, akin to the entitlements of adoptive parents. It would allow them to spend a period of protected time with the children entering their care as they settle into their new arrangements. Further, it would enable caregivers to remain in employment while they adjust to their new responsibilities and continue contributing to the economic growth that this government strives for.
Again, I wish to thank the Minister for her willingness to meet with me and engage with these amendments and urge her to carefully consider the difference these amendments would make to the lives of kinship carers, to those growing up in their loving care, and to wider society.