Illegal Migration Bill – priorities for Amendment drafting
The previous briefing that the Children’s Commissioner’s office shared set out in detail the Children’s Commissioner’s main concerns about the Illegal Migration Bill. Ahead of the Committee Stage next week, this document provides an overview of the amendments and some clarifications that the Children’s Commissioner would like to see reflected in the Bill. The document […]
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 2021/22Â
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 BillÂ
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 […]
Archived Content
Gaming the system
The overwhelming majority of children (93 percent) in the UK play video games. Yet despite its popularity, the culture of ‘gaming’- its rules and its rituals, the varying profiles of players, the risks they face – tends to be spoken of by adults, whether they be policymakers or parents, as if it were an alien […]
The state of child poverty and how we can tackle it
On the United Nations Day for Poverty Eradication we should never fail to be shocked that we are talking about child poverty when are one of the wealthiest countries on earth. Yet as all of us here know, the number of children living in poverty has been steadily increasing in recent years. There are around […]
EU children 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 status is a special immigration category for EU nationals who have made Britain their home. Once you have settled status […]
Children’s Commissioner for England response to CQC report on the state of care
Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, responding to the CQC annual report into the state of care
Almost one in five children left education at 18 last year without basic qualifications
Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, has published research looking at the number of children who leave the education system at 18 without reaching Level 2 attainment (five GCSEs grade A* to C, or equivalent technical qualifications). These are children who will have spent 14 years in compulsory education, often having more than £100,000 of […]
Children’s manifesto calls on political parties to back six pledges to transform life chances for all kids
Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, has published ‘Guess How Much We Love You: A Manifesto for Children’ ahead of any upcoming General Election.
A Manifesto for Children
The manifesto, published ahead of any upcoming General Election, calls on Britain’s political parties to include a six-point plan in their election manifestos to transform the life chances for disadvantaged children and to help all of England’s 12 million children to thrive. The manifesto sets out some of the key issues that children have told […]
Anne Longfield responds to Government Spending Review
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, responding to the Government’s Spending Review
Children’s experiences of online harm and what they want to do about it
In April this year the Government set out their plans for a world-first: a system of regulations that they argue will make the UK ‘the safest place in the world to be online’. The Online Harms White Paper, produced in collaboration between the Home Office and Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), maps out […]
Bleak houses
Tackling the crisis of family homelessness in England