Recommendation 25

The Government’s response to our report last year failed to acknowledge the need for urgent action to support new parents, rejecting almost all of our recommendations. One year on, many of the concerns we raised remain live issues. While the enormous demands of managing the nation’s response to the pandemic must be recognised, it is bitterly disappointing that the Government has failed to invest in catch-up services that could have helped mitigate the impact on new parents and their children of the first lockdown, or progressed crucial employment protections for new parents. We believe responding to the diverse needs of this group requires cross-Government buy-in and should be seen as a priority moving forward from the pandemic.