Meet the team
Commissioner’s private office Policy Advocacy and advice Research and analysis Communications Corporate services
Head of Communications (Maternity cover)
Salary: Grade 7 £55,022-£63,601 Hours: Full-time Contract type: Fixed Term Contract (12 months) Do you want to make a tangible difference to the lives of children across England? Can you use your skills to be a catalyst for creating meaningful change? Are you ready to join a committed team dedicated to giving children and young […]
What does the Spring Budget mean for children & young people?
Earlier this week, the Government set out spending measures in its spring Budget, which contained a number of commitments targeted specifically at children and young people: Childcare The Government has announced that £4.1 billion will be made available by 2027-2028 to deliver 30 hours of free childcare for eligible working parents of children aged from […]
New attendance figures for academic year 2021/22
New stats released today show that overall school absence in 2021/22 was 7.6%, higher than around 4-5% in previous years. The share of pupils persistently absent (meaning they missed at least 10% of possible school sessions) was 22.5%, up from 10-11% pre-covid. The share of pupils severely absent (meaning they missed at least 50% of […]
Briefing to MPs on Illegal Migration Bill
The Children’s Commissioner for England has a statutory duty to promote and protect the rights of children in England. This includes those children who have arrived in the country fleeing war and persecution, who are often the victims of trafficking and exploitation. The Illegal Migration Bill will have a profound impact on the rights of […]
Letter to the Home Secretary on the Illegal Migration Bill
A letter from the Children’s Commissioner for England to the Home Secretary on the terms of the Illegal Migration Bill. Dear Home Secretary RE: Illegal Migration Bill Thank you for your response to my previous letter, dated 24th February. I am writing to request an urgent meeting to discuss Home Office plans for unaccompanied children […]
Help at Hand’s recent visit to unaccompanied children seeking asylum in Home Office accommodation
Help at Hand is the Children’s Commissioner’s advice and representation service for children in care, children living away from home, children working with social services and care leavers. Advisors from the service visited Home Office accommodation for unaccompanied children seeking asylum on Thursday 9th March. These children have predominantly entered the UK via small boats […]
Students’ reflections from their trip to London
42 students from Magnificat MAC came to London on a study trip, organised by their schools. They visited the Children’s Commissioner’s Office, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We asked them what they thought of their day in London. Here is what they said. “To start our trip to London we went to the […]
CCo statement on Illegal Migration Bill
As Children’s Commissioner for England, it is my mission to make sure every child is protected from harm and has their rights upheld. I am therefore deeply concerned about the Illegal Migration Bill, as it is opaque on what it means for children and their rights. Any child arriving in the UK must first and […]
Statement
Children’s Commissioner’s speech to the National Association of Virtual School Heads
Good morning everyone – thank you for inviting me today. I am delighted to be speaking to you all for the second year in a row. Virtual School Heads are immensely important, and I want to thank all of you for your commitment to making sure children receive the best possible education. As Children’s Commissioner […]
Speech
Children’s mental health services 2021-2022
When I became Children’s Commissioner, one of my first actions was to carry out The Big Ask survey. I wanted to understand, as we were emerging from the shadow of the pandemic, what children wanted for their futures, and what worries were holding them back. It was clear from the responses to that survey, as […]
Children and RSHE
Children told me very clearly in The Big Ask, the largest-ever survey of children in England that I conducted in my first year as Children’s Commissioner, how important relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) and broader personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education is to them. When asked, children are very clear about how highly […]
Archived Content
Pass the parcel: children posted around the care system
“I feel like a parcel getting moved around all the time, getting opened up and sent back and moved on to somewhere else.” Teenage girl, in care over 100 miles from home There are over 30,000 looked after children living ‘out of area’ in England. This is 41% of all children in care and has […]
Thousands of children in care passed around the system like parcels and living miles away from family and friends
Shining a light on the experiences of children in care who are moved ‘out of area’ – away from their home boroughs where family and friends live.
Receive our vacancies by email
Sign up to receive our latest vacancies by email We will send you an email each Friday if we publish any new vacancies during that week. If we don’t publish any new vacancies, you won’t get an email. Email address Email preferences As well as receiving our latest vacancies, you can also receive our regular […]
Marking 30 years of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child with call on political parties to put the spotlight on children during election campaign
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, is calling on the political parties fighting the General Election to put the spotlight on children’s issues, as she joins the Children’s Commissioners for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, in publishing an assessment of the UK’s progress on children’s rights. This month marks the 30th anniversary of the UN […]
UK Children’s Commissioners’ UNCRC mid-term review
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, a landmark agreement by governments around the world on the rights of children. As Children’s Commissioners it is central to our mission to make sure that those rights are made a reality for all children. The United Nations […]
Response to the Home and Foreign Secretaries regarding British children in Syria
Earlier this year Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, wrote to the Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary regarding the safety and welfare of British children who have become involved in the conflict in Syria. The following is the Children Commissioner for England’s latest response to Dominic Raab, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office […]
Nurture with nature: Why environmental engagement is imperative for children
We know that the health of the environment is one of children’s greatest concerns, as outlined in Issue 1 of our Children’s Insights reports. The word ‘environment’ is likely to stir a very different reaction amongst children than it used to. Many children face the incompatible situation of a lifestyle divorced from nature, and mounting […]
EU children in Britain
This page was published in 2019 and may contain out of date information. Know your rights to stay in Britain If you are an EU citizen living in Britain, Brexit will affect your rights. This means you will need to apply for what the Government calls ‘settled status’ in Britain. What is settled status? Settled […]
Children’s insights
This is the first issue in our regular series of insights into the views and experiences of children in England.
Changes to gambling laws needed as our report into online gaming reveals children’s gambling fears
Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, has published a report, “Gaming the system’’ which looks at the experiences of children who play games online. The Children’s Commissioner’s Office commissioned the research company Revealing Reality to speak to groups of children who play online games like FIFA, Fortnite and Roblox about what they love and what […]
