By Dr Koldo Casla, Senior Lecturer, Essex Law School & Director, Human Rights Centre Clinic

Image courtesy Nathan Guy (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/nathan_guy/2315309592

The European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) recently published its 2023 conclusions on the rights of children, family and migrants under the European Social Charter (ESC). The European Social Charter, in its original formulation of 1961 and the revised of 1996, is the most significant treaty under the Council of Europe dealing with socio-economic rights. ECSR is the authoritative interpreter of the Charter, and it is mandated to monitor States’ compliance with it.

As part of the reporting procure, States submit reports to the ECSR about the measures they are adopting in relation to the labour marker, social security or social assistance and other policies concerning socio-economic rights. The ECSR also relies on evidence provided by civil society, unions, national human rights institutions and academics.

In 2023, specifically in relation to rights of children, families and migrant workers (Articles 7, 8, 16, 17 and 19 ESC), the ECSR adopted 415 conclusions of conformity with the Charter and 384 conclusions of non-conformity in relation to 32 European countries (EU and non-EU). One of them is the United Kingdom, with 10 conclusions of conformity and 9 of non-conformity.

In its assessment of the situation, the ECSR relied on a report I wrote with my colleague Lyle Barker as part of Human Rights Local, a project of the Human Rights Centre of the University of Essex. Conceived and developed in partnership with the anti-poverty NGO ATD Fourth World, the report “Poverty, Child Protection, and the Right to Protection and Assistance to the Family in England”, published in June 2023, called for transformative change to child services. We combined law and policy desk research, data analysis, and interviews and focus groups with a total of 33 people (28 of them female), including parents, social workers and young adults. We argued that creating a social security system that guarantees the essentials in life, regulating for-profit children’s homes, and extending peer-parent support can help to eradicate a toxic culture of prejudice and disproportionate risk-aversion in England’s child protection services.

We made the case that child protection services are not observant of the right to protection and assistance to the family, recognised in Article 10 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Article 10 ICESCR is very similar to Article 16 ESC, the right of the family to social, legal and economic protection.

Based, among other sources, on our analysis in the mentioned report, the ECSR concluded that “the situation in the United Kingdom is not in conformity with Article 16 of the 1961 Charter on the grounds that: equal treatment of nationals of other States Parties regarding the payment of family benefits is not ensured due to the excessive length of residence requirement; the amount of child benefits is insufficient.”

Between 2022 and 2025, the UK is also being examined by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which monitors compliance with ICESCR. In December 2022, we submitted a summary of the preliminary conclusions to the UN Committee. Alongside a colleague with lived experience of poverty from ATD Fourth World, I presented the submission to the UN Committee in March 2023 remotely. The Committee’s List of Issues for the UK Government included one of our concerns, which had not been addressed in any other submission, namely, the regulation and monitoring of private and for-profit providers of child protection. We will continue engaging with international human rights bodies and urging the authorities to implement the necessary measures locally and nationally to protect children and families in poverty in the UK.

Dr Koldo Casla, Senior Lecturer at Essex Law School, is a member of the Academic Network on the European Social Charter and Social Rights (ANESC), and co-editor of The European Social Charter: A Commentary, Volume 3 (2024), on Articles 11-19 ESC.