Today parliament is debating the call from 3DadsWalking
for compulsory age-related education in schools on suicide awareness and prevention. I hope this call becomes law after today's debate. We know these things don't happen overnight but the process has started. Educating our children in schools on this topic will open up conversations and enable our children to talk about this "taboo" topic and seek help when they struggle to cope with any mental health challenges.
Let us now make sure that once they get to university, if they choose that path, the protection they have had at school continues. If you didn't know this, currently, they don't have this legal duty of care that everyone in schools, in employment, in apprenticeships, in the armed forces, in prisons, etc are entitled to. University staff are protected. So you may ask, why are university students not.
In 1970, the age definition of an adult changed in the UK from 21 to 18. Until then, students going to university were covered. From 1970, university students fell through the gap loosing this protection. This has not been addressed yet.
Today I ask you all if you have not done so already, to please sign The Learn Network's petition calling for a legal duty of care for university students. (petition link is at the end of this message). On average every year, yes every year, about 100 lives are lost to suicide in UK universities. We are a family who experienced such a loss when my son lost his life to suicide at a UK university. Death by suicide is the biggest killer of young people under the age of 30.
When our petition reached 10K, the department of education responded by saying that there is a general duty of care. This general duty of care does not stand up in court when things go wrong and "failure to act" decisions are challenged in court as was proven by the case Abrahart V University of Bristol when the judge ruled that there was no general duty of care. The Abrahart's won their case on breaches of Equality Act.
Another response to the group is there is a common duty of care. However, the department has failed to produce any evidence of what this common or general duty is and where it can be found. Their response is misleading.
We have until 19th March 2023 to get the 100,000 signatures so I am asking you to please support us and sign the petition if you have not done so already. Sign it, and respond to the email confirmation you get otherwise the signature will not count. And importantly, please forward this message to your friends and family and ask them to sign too. If you know students at universities, get them on board. We need a ripple effect now.
Over the last 2 days, we have secured over 20,000 signatures and as I write this we are at 53,500. We need to reach 100,000.
This call for help and support is to enable us to improve the care and protection for ALL students at UK universities, not just those who are suicidal. University students leaving home for the first time can be quite vulnerable. Mental health challenges are increasing.
Universities UK provide guidelines to universities, but they are just that, Guidelines, and are not compulsory. Some universities are better at implementing these than others and it then becomes a postcode lottery of what the students will get. Is this fair? Would you not expect the same at all universities? And more importantly, wouldn't you want to know what this care and protection is. Employees know what Employment Law is as it is the same everywhere. Safeguarding Law is the same in ALL schools.
Anyone who comments that students going to universities are adults need to remember that employees are adults in the main, and they have legal duty of care and protection under employment law.
So help us change this. Universities should be a place where students can thrive, educationally and socially. They are our future.
Petition link:
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/622847
The Learn Network: thelearnnetwork.org.uk
Many thanks