Mayor of London's Inclusion Charter to tackle suspensions

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has launched London’s Inclusion Charter – a partnership between young people, schools and local authorities to help tackle rising suspensions and absenteeism.  

Figures show that the equivalent of 1,430 children each day lost learning in London in 2021/22 due to suspension or persistent absenteeism – up 71 per cent on pre-pandemic levels in 2018/19.

There is a correlation between children with a history of suspension or exclusion from school and violence. An Ofsted report on knife crime showing children excluded from school were twice as likely to carry a knife, while separate research highlights one in two of the prison population were excluded as children.   

London’s Inclusion Charter builds on the good practice and expertise taking place across the city and has been developed by the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) in partnership with young people, schools, parents and carers and education specialists.

The Charter is underpinned by four guiding principles centred on inclusive practice that is backed up by research. A key strand of the charter is a new £1.4 million investment from the Mayor’s VRU in a partnership with UNICEF UK that will provide child rights resources and training to support inclusive practice, learner voice and engagement for all state-funded school and education settings in London for the next four years. The Award recognises a school’s achievement in putting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into practice within the school and beyond.   

There are already 18 boroughs signed up to the principles of the Charter, including Barking & Dagenham, Brent, Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith & Fulham, Haringey, Hounslow, Islington, Lambeth, Newham, Southwark, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth and Westminster.  

The Mayor is calling for all schools and local authorities to sign up to the principles of the Charter and take up the free offer of support.