Lockdown is pushing children out of school and into crime, says police chief

The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson says police are aware many pupils have not returned back to school after the summer, with a large number out on the streets during the day.

A recent Government survey showed that 30,000 children were absent from school on one particular day in October, which Mr Jamieson, a former secondary school headteacher, said was "very worrying".

He is calling for the Government to show "a greater effort" to help youngsters of all backgrounds work from home safely to ensure they get the best education they can.

He said: "These figures showing 30,000 children absent from school in one particular day in the Black Country, that's a hell of a lot of children. That's like 30 comprehensive schools worth of children, who are where? Some will be working from home, some will be ill, but then there be a minority who are extraordinarily vulnerable. And this is my concern.

"Police are aware there are more children on the streets now during the day than there were previously. But even more worrying is that there are drug gangs who will be looking to exploit these children.

"The problem is that there are tens of thousands of children who have sufficiently missed out on education either because of lockdown or because they haven't gone back to school and these children are at a serious disadvantage. They are going to find it very difficult to get into the jobs market.

"As we head into next year they won't be able to get university places or college places because they won't have done well enough in their exams or they won't have been back to school. So they will be difficult to employ, which then leads to all sorts of concerns. Where do they go?

"Sadly a lot of them drift into crime, and into bad things, into violence. We're sitting on a ticking time bomb – with large numbers of young people who either missed out on their education or who will be long-term unemployed."

Mr Jamieson said the Government needs to make a greater effort with closing the class gap, and making sure students all have laptops so they can work from home if needed.

"The poorer you are the less likely you can get on the internet. It's absolutely essential that the Government put the programme together to provide laptops for these children.

"The divide between the haves and the have nots has widened greatly, there's now this huge chasm between the children of better off homes who can afford laptops and those who can't – and this will ultimately lead to further problems."

Police and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire Matthew Ellis has echoed his calls for more support for young people and has said they "must be invested in".

He said: "I do have faith in young people across Staffordshire to maintain their learning but it is vital that those who are struggling because of the situation are supported properly, as this really can have a long term effect on young people.

"I'm not quite as worried about youngsters in Staffordshire, but it is a fair point that Mr Jamieson raises that this doesn't happen.

"We must make sure once this is over, the lockdown, that young people have the right opportunities. We must invest in young people on the back of Covid."