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xUN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights latest recommendations to the UK
Date: 18th March 2025
Category:
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Child poverty
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has published its latest recommendations (known as Concluding Observations), on the United Kingdom’s application of the International Convention on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
The review, conducted in February 2025, acknowledged progress but raised key concerns and made recommendations around child rights issues across the UK, including Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
In the report, the Committee calls for better childcare support and increased public funding to improve accessibility and affordability. The Committee expressed concern over social care services and made recommendations for a more inclusive system that promotes shared caregiving responsibilities as well as recommending the UK Government to make early childhood education more affordable and accessible, especially for children whose rights are most at risk. The report calls for a reassessment of welfare reforms, including reconsidering policies like the two-child limit, the benefit cap, and the five-week wait for Universal Credit payments.
The Concluding Observations are concrete recommendations that can be used to monitor progress of ICESCR and advocate for children’s rights. Scrutiny and publicity can help attract public attention and ensure that the concerns raised by the Committee will be on the UK Government’s agenda ahead of the next review.
The ICESCR Concluding Observations also echo in many respects the recommendations issued by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2023.