During a public hearing on 14 July, Brighter Futures staff and clients gave evidence that the Sub-Panel described as “deeply powerful and often emotional”. Their testimony provided a clear and human-centred picture of how family friendly legislation is experienced by families across Jersey.

The report notes that Brighter Futures supports parents, families and young people through coordinator support and a range of free programmes and services.

The Sub-Panel’s findings reflect many of the issues raised during the hearing, including a widespread lack of awareness among parents about their rights and entitlements, significant financial pressure caused by childcare costs, housing and food insecurity, and wide variation in employer practices around flexible working. The report also highlights the isolation and mental health challenges experienced by many families, particularly migrant families without extended family support.

The Sub- Panel also stated that the Brighter Futures hearing provided some of the most vivid and human-centred evidence in the review, demonstrating:

• Deep financial barriers to using parental leave
• Wide variation in employer behaviour
• High levels of isolation, anxiety and hardship among families
• A major lack of awareness of rights and entitlements
• Positive but fragile cultural shifts in father involvement
• Structural inequities for single parents, grandparents, migrants and the self-employed.

This testimony is critical to understanding how Jersey’s family friendly legislation is experienced at the most vulnerable and those experiencing poverty.

One of the report’s conclusions, Finding 38, states that there is a widespread lack of awareness among parents about their rights and allowances, with many families relying entirely on charity workers to understand even basic entitlements.

The full report has been published by the States Assembly and can be accessed online.

We encourage anyone with an interest in family policy, employment rights or early years support to read it in full.

This report reinforces the importance of listening directly to families and front-line services, and it underlines the role Brighter Futures continues to play in giving voice to those experiences.