Welsh Labour's Nursery Guidance Tells Staff to Call Police on Toddlers for 'Racist Incidents'

Nurseries across Wales now face instructions to call police when toddlers commit "racist incidents" under a £1.3 million taxpayer-funded scheme backed by Welsh Labour. The guidance transforms early years settings into ideological surveillance zones. Children well below the age of criminal responsibility — which stands at 10 in Wales, the lowest in Europe — cannot be arrested, charged, or given criminal records. Yet the policy treats them as potential offenders.

Welsh Labour has deployed £1.3 million in taxpayer funds to build a surveillance apparatus inside preschools. Childcare workers receive directives to report toddlers for "racist incidents" to police. The guidance reached more than 300 nurseries across Wales. Critics argue the policy represents the logical endpoint of identity politics — teaching children to police each other's behavior while the state criminalizes normal childhood development.

Staff must assess whether a "racist incident" could constitute a hate crime. They call 999 for emergencies or 101 for non-emergencies. When an incident falls short of a hate crime, the guidance instructs staff to offer "age-appropriate learning support opportunities for the perpetrator." That perpetrator may not yet be toilet trained. The toolkit originates from DARPL (Diversity and Anti-Racist Professional Learning), based at Cardiff Metropolitan University. It is titled "Creating an Anti-Racist Culture in Settings."

The funding trail reveals a steadily escalating commitment. The Welsh Government awarded DARPL £1.3 million between 2021 and 2025. The breakdown: £147,701 in 2021-22, £175,850 in 2022-23, £492,436 in 2023-24, and £560,626 in 2024-25. Staff must conduct an "understanding audit" on white privilege. They assess their "unconscious biases." They audit their settings for diversity. They follow a flowchart determining whether a "racist incident" requires police action. When staff encounter "resistance," they can initiate a "disciplinary route."

Welsh Conservatives called the policy "criminalising three-year-olds." They argue Wales already faces worse educational standards than the rest of the UK. Labour's priorities, they say, are completely wrong.

"We all oppose racism and bad behaviour, but criminalising three-year-olds is not the answer," a Welsh Conservatives spokesperson stated. "Wales has the worst educational standards in the UK, with one in five children leaving primary school functionally illiterate. Yet Welsh Labour seems more interested in policing nursery toddlers than fixing falling standards and worsening behaviour in our schools. Their priorities are completely wrong."

The National Day Nurseries Association defended the guidance. It covers "all eventualities," the association noted, and age-appropriate interventions remain key.

"The first five years of a child's life are crucial in their personal, social and emotional development," an NDNA spokesperson said. "This is about the environments in which our youngest children are growing up and if racist incidents take place it is important that people know how to address them in a suitable way to protect children's wellbeing. The guide aims to cover all eventualities which may include issues between adults in or around a setting, not just the actions of children in nurseries."

Reports suggest police action would almost always be reserved for adult incidents. Child incidents would be dealt with internally. The policy traces back to June 2022, when Welsh Labour announced plans following Black Lives Matter protests. The goal: make Wales an "anti-racist nation by 2030." The government cited "institutional and structural racism." The Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan includes projects such as spending £9,952 to "decolonize" Welsh cakes.

BERA (British Educational Research Association) endorsed DARPL on its blog. The organization stated the program embodies its recommendations. "In DARPL we advocate that anti-racism should feature on every school and learning organisation improvement plan," BERA wrote. The Welsh Government was contacted for comment and did not respond.

Max Thompson, Campaigns Officer for the Free Speech Union, noted the guidance's instructions to call 999 for a "nappy-wearing toddler" committing a hate crime highlight the absurdity. Wales' age of criminal responsibility is 10.

"The perpetrator, to be clear, may not yet be toilet trained," Thompson stated. Thompson added that DARPL has "received £1.3 million in Welsh Government funding and collected enthusiastic endorsements from Welsh Labour ministers."

Early Years Minister Jayne Bryant spoke in June 2024 about the program's launch. "We are striving to ensure that we work to make change across education and childcare. I'm really pleased to support DARPL and Cwlwm in the launch of the toolkit today, as it is a great addition to the work we are doing to progress our anti-racist Wales action plan goals."

Chantelle Haughton, Founder and Director of DARPL, framed the initiative as long-term cultural work. "As we make inroads in our commitment to anti-racist leadership and professional learning across childcare, playwork and early years, there are examples of excellent work emerging in our field, but there is still much to do to improve experiences and outcomes future generations in their most malleable years in readiness for lifelong learning."

The guidance defines "white privilege" as "inherent advantages possessed by a white person on the basis of their race in a society characterised by racial inequality and injustice." Anti-racism is defined as "actively opposing racism and being an advocate for individual, institutional and systemic change." The guidance states the Welsh childcare workforce is "overwhelmingly White Welsh." It asserts that "nearly all the leaders and staff in settings in Wales will have had the privilege of not having to think about the day-to-day microaggressions and systematic and institutional racism that people from Global Majority backgrounds and Gypsy, Roma, Romani and Traveller communities face."

Dr. Susan Davis, Reader at Cardiff Met, described the toolkit as "written by practitioners, for practitioners and is an essential reference document for your anti-racist bookshelf." Professor Charlotte Williams, quoted in the DARPL toolkit, stated: "Inclusive education has not produced equality of outcomes."

The policy has sparked widespread ridicule and criticism. Opponents call it an absurd overreach that treats children below the age of criminal responsibility as potential lawbreakers. The Welsh Government has refused to defend the scheme despite its ideological extremism.

Parents who drop their children at nursery each morning now wonder what words their toddlers might say that could trigger a police call. The state has drawn a new boundary around childhood itself — and labeled it a crime scene.