Lemn Sissay with Cllr Marcus Boyland

A BROADCASTER, author and poet addressed the Town Hall on Monday night as part of a campaign to make the experience of the care system a “protected characteristic”.

Lemn Sissay OBE told the chamber how he had been campaigning for 38 years against the “virulent strain of prejudice” experienced by young people in care.

Mr Sissay – whose autobiography My Name Is Why tells the story of his childhood growing up in various care homes – said: “Thirty-eight years ago I trekked from Euston Station, through Camden to the Children’s Legal Centre in Islington where we campaigned to raise awareness of a virulent strain of prejudice against children in care which has escalated to this day.”

Mr Sissay, who served as the chancellor of the University of Manchester between 2015 and 2022, said: “Why do care-experienced people have the worst outcomes of any group in the United Kingdom? Why is it that care-experienced people are 70 per cent more likely to die prematurely? Why is it that at least 25 per cent of people that are homeless are care experienced? Why are children leaving the care system with more pain than they entered with?”

He added: “Where is equality for care-experienced individuals? Where is the right to life free from discrimination, free from the stigma? Making care experience a protected characteristic means that the council is using its power as a corporate parent to protect its [children] and reduce stigma.”

Under the Equality Act, it is illegal to discriminate against anyone on the basis of a “protected characteristic” – for example, age, race, religion or sex – or subject them to unfair treatment.

On Monday night, councillors voted unanimously to make care experience a “locally protected characteristic” within the borough of Camden. They also agreed a measure that will provide care leavers with free WiFi until the age of 25.

However, campaigner Terry Galloway warned: “It’s not until we get this into [national] legislation that we’re going to really really see impact. “However, there is a fantastic massive opportunity for you as a council right now to develop a number of policies around housing and sufficiency and employment where you can really make a difference to care-experienced people.”

South Hampstead councillor Tommy Gale, also a social worker, said every councillor had a responsibility as a “corporate parent” to the “558 care-experienced children and young people” under the care of the borough’s social services.

He said young people must be supported beyond the age of 25, adding that the introduction of the new “locally protected characteristic” to council policy means care leavers will be able to rely on support for “your whole life, if you need it”.

He told councillors: “Next time someone asks if you have any children, the correct answer is, I think I’ve got about 558.”