“Guilty until Proven Innocent”: Children’s Commissioner delivers 2025 Longford Lecture
The Longford Lectures, hosted by the Longford Trust since 2002, are held each November reflecting on prison policy and the need for broader social reform. Previous lectures have been given by well-known figures, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Mary McAleese of Ireland, and Cherie Blair. On Tuesday 11th November, the Children’s Commissioner delivered the 2025 […]
Press Notice: Failing services mean custody being used as a ‘waiting room’ for innocent children, Children’s Commissioner warns
Hundreds of children are left in a ‘waiting room’ limbo each year, being unnecessarily locked up in custody while awaiting trial or sentencing – not because they pose the greatest risk, but because the systems designed to support them are failing, the Children’s Commissioner has warned. Research on the use of custodial remand for children […]
“A production line of pointlessness”: Children on custodial remand
Since becoming the Children’s Commissioner, I have travelled across the country meeting children whose lives are shaped by decisions made far away from them and those whose voices are rarely heard. Time and time again, I have witnessed children being held on custodial remand, not because they pose the greatest risk, but because the system […]
Youth work: Reflections from my Ambassadors
Youth Work Week is an annual event celebrating youth work. It showcases the impact it can have on children and how it can help inspire them to achieve their ambitions. Youth work is important for developing life skills, confidence and providing children with a sense of belonging. It encourages participation in their communities and gives […]
A Vision for Care, why we should do more for care leavers
A version of this blog appeared in CYP Now and was published in November 2025. As Children’s Commissioner, I have a special responsibility to children who are care-experienced or living away from home. That is not just a responsibility defined by legislation, but one that I feel personally. As a teacher and headteacher for 30 […]
Statement from the Children’s Commissioner on the Curriculum and Assessment Review, led by Professor Becky Francis
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said: “There is no shortage of ambition among young people. Since becoming Children’s Commissioner thousands have told me they want to learn subjects and skills that set them up for success as adults, balancing vital ‘core’ subjects with those that instil joy and curiosity. The proposals of Professor Francis’ […]
Celebrating Care Leavers’ Month 2025
In November we mark Care Leavers’ Month – a time to celebrate the experiences, resilience, and achievements of care-experienced young people across the country. This year’s theme, “Rising as Me: Overcoming challenges, transforming, and finding your identity”, shines a light on the determination, strength and pride that care leavers embody every day. As Children’s Commissioner, […]
Setting a vision for children’s social care
Earlier this month I published a new report setting out in one place the reforms I believe are urgently needed to raise standards and outcomes for the country’s most vulnerable children, those in or on the edge of care. Today’s statistics from the Department for Education showing that the number of children with a social […]
As Awaab’s Law comes into effect, action must be taken now to make the homes children live in safer
Each summer, Dr Ami Parikh and Dr Giles Armstrong, Consultants in Paediatric Emergency Medicine at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, see a devasting and distressing pattern. Children are routinely brought to the Emergency Department after falling from heights out of apartment or tower block windows. Many of the children they see face life-threatening injuries, […]
Do schools’ worries about attendance match the reality of pupil attendance? Findings from the Children’s Commissioner’s School Census.
For as long as I have been Children’s Commissioner, I have been talking about school attendance. This is because attendance is not a ‘nice to have’. It supersedes everything else because, as I made clear in The Children’s Plan,i even the most well-executed and evidence-based pedagogy the teaching profession has to offer is no use […]
The Children’s Plan: Vision for Care
As Children’s Commissioner, I have a special responsibility to children living in care or away from home. That is not just a responsibility defined by legislation, but one that I feel personally. It was a big part of my motivation for taking on this role nearly five years ago, after a 30-year career as a […]
The Big Conversation: Period Poverty, reflections from a Youth Ambassador
As Children’s Commissioner hearing from children directly about issues they care about is one of the biggest privileges of my role. In today’s increasingly connected world, issues facing children in England are often those that impact children globally – and discussing those issues with children both here and abroad is an important part of my […]
Archived Content
Improving the living situation of children living in secure accommodation
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commisioner for England, has written to Vicky Ford MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families, Lucy Frazer QC MP, Minister of State, Ministry of Justice and Nadine Dorries MP, Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health regarding concerns about children in living in secure accommodation, particularly those […]
Children in custody during lockdown
Since the start of the Covid pandemic, the Children’s Commissioner’s Office has investigated and highlighted concerns about the treatment of children in secure settings. Our briefing in May used data collected from the Youth Custody Service (YCS) alongside a series of interviews with children to shine a light on conditions for children in custody during […]
Help at Hand annual report 2020
Our 2020 annual report for Help at Hand, our advice line for children in care.
Response to the DfE’s announcement on unregulated accommodation for children in care
Anne Longfield, responding to the DfE’s announcement on unregulated accommodation for children in care, said: “The Government’s ban on unregulated provision for under-16s in care is very welcome, but needs to go further and include all under-18s. There are too many teenage children in care living in completely unsuitable and sometimes dangerous accommodation, including hostels […]
Five things you need to know about SEN in schools
How children’s needs are met (or go unmet) in schools, and the implications of these for the SEND Review and other reforms
Building back better
When I became Children’s Commissioner for England six years ago, I set out an ambitious vision for a nation where childhood is understood and celebrated and where the voice of all children is listened to at the heart of Government. I had in mind a particular group of children who, in my experience of working […]
Building back better – Anne Longfield’s final speech as Children’s Commissioner
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, has delivered her final speech in post with a challenge to the Prime Minister to show he is serious about children by putting them at the heart of his post-Covid plans. Her speech warned that the Prime Minister’s promise to ‘level up’ will be ‘just a slogan unless […]
Speech
Characteristics of children entering care for the first time as teenagers
Last year, research from my office showed that even before the pandemic, there were 120,000 highly vulnerable children in England who were falling through the gaps in education and social care. This group of children – equivalent to 1 in 25 13-17 year olds – all had significant additional needs and vulnerabilities but were not […]
Spend over £25,000: 2020 – 2021
We publish details of all spending over £25,000 on a quarterly basis. 1 April 2020 – 30 June 2020 Nil 1 July 2020 – 30 September 2020 Transaction date Merchant name Transaction amount Entity Details 14/08/2020 National Audit Office £33,600.00 OCC External Audit Services 1 October 2020 – 31 December 2020 Nil 1 January 2021 […]
Still not safe
The public health response to youth violence
