Community
I want all children to have access to enriching activities and to feel safe both online and offline.
In The Big Ask, children told me they want affordable, fun and sustaining activities in their local areas and that they wanted to be able to play, go outside, and see their friends. Around half (52%) of children aged 9 to 17 are happy with the choice of things to do in their local area.
Children also spoke about the impact the online world had on their wellbeing and how much time they were spending online. They want to be able to have the same protections in a virtual world and navigate social media in a way that did not make them feel vulnerable for their safety or conscious of their own image.
I don’t feel I was informed of my online safety from a young age and that it was considered a priority. Technology and social media are constantly developing, so why aren’t our laws and protections for children on these platforms updating with it?
Girl, 14,
The Big Ask.
Latest Reports
The Children’s Plan: The Children’s Commissioner’s School Census
8 September 2025
Read The Children’s Plan: The Children’s Commissioner’s School Census in full. Read the Summary version. For the first time as Children’s Commissioner, I have used my statutory powers to ask all schools, and colleges, a set of questions. A census in response to what children told me they wanted and needed to attend, engage, attain, […]
Report
“Sex is kind of broken now”: children and pornography
18 August 2025
This report is among the most sobering my office has ever published. It paints a stark picture of what childhood looks like in 2025 with an online world that is, in many ways, completely unfit for children. As Children’s Commissioner, I have heard from a million children, parents and carers. Without fail, they all tell […]
Report
Growing up in a low-income family: Children’s experiences
8 July 2025
This report should not have to exist. Shining a light on children’s experiences of poverty in 2025, in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, should not be necessary. And yet, the findings in this work highlight real hardship; an almost-Dickensian level of poverty facing some children in England today. After four years as […]
Report
“One day this could happen to me” – Children, nudification tools and sexually explicit deepfakes
28 April 2025
The growth of the online world is a technological revolution, the likes of which hasn’t been witnessed in centuries. The internet has enhanced our lives immeasurably, by opening up education, communication and research in ways those of us who are now well into our adulthoods might never have imagined. For children growing up in 2025, […]
Report
My Plan for the year, 2025-26
3 April 2025
I’ve designed a version of my Business Plan aimed specifically for children and young people, sharing the projects and themes that my office will be working on. As Children’s Commissioner for England, it is my job to listen to you and take your voices to decision makers. In my survey, The Big Ambition, only one […]
Report
Business Plan, 2025-26
The year ahead – 2025-26 – will be my penultimate year as Children’s Commissioner for England. It will also mark 20 years since the establishment of this office – a milestone that offers an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made and a reminder about the many urgent challenges that remain. More than […]
Report
The impact of housing instability on children’s GCSE grades
28 March 2025
Every child should have a loving, secure home, but when it comes to housing, children get a raw deal. Thousands of children are living in temporary accommodation, including many in emergency ‘B&B’ style accommodation for longer than the statutory six-week limit1 – and they are paying the price of this disruption and instability in their […]
Report
The educational journeys of children in secure settings
27 February 2025
Since becoming Children’s Commissioner nearly four years ago, I’ve made it my mission to listen to young people in some of the most challenging circumstances, facing the most uncertain futures. Children living in secure settings are at the sharpest end of this definition. Their numbers are small, with around 400 at any one time located […]
Report
Children’s involvement in the 2024 riots
28 January 2025
Last July, the country was rocked by the murders of three little girls in Southport. Bebe King, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Elsie Dot Stancombe who were killed while taking part in a dance class during their summer holiday; a scene of simple childhood innocence destroyed by terrifying violence. The initial response from the community […]
Report
My work so far…
Strip Searching
In response to the shocking testimony of Child Q in March 2022, I have used my powers to obtain and publish police data on strip searching of children.
My latest repot provides a complete picture, for the first time ever, of how strip searches are conducted by police across England and Wales over five and a half years (2018 to June 2023) – including new data for 2022 to 2023.
My new analysis confirms that the issues are not confined to London – indeed, there are indications that outside of London the issues are even more deeply entrenched. It’s vital that improvements continue at pace, with fewer searches carried out, better data recording and improved practice.
My previous two reports in this area first focused on strip searches under stop and search conducted by the Metropolitan Police Service, published in 2022, followed by a national-level report across England and Wales, published in 2023. Both highlighted systematic problems with the compliance with the Codes of Practice in how strip searches of children were being carried out, and evidence of ethnic disproportionality.
I continue to engage with the Metropolitan Police and police forces all over England and Wales to ensure children are safe when they interact with the police.
Online Safety
I was asked by the Government to explore how the online world can be made safer, both through the Online Safety Bill and before it becomes law. I delivered a set of recommendations to strengthen the Online Safety Bill based on the views put forward by young children in focus groups and workshops. Four of which were accepted by the Government in their rewrite of the Bill in March 2022.
My office has worked with children and young people to publish a guide for parents – “The things I wish my parents had known” – which covered issues including pornography consumption, intimate image sharing and sexualised bullying.
I have also gathered testimony from 2,005 children aged 8-17 and their parents about their experiences of the online world. This survey showed that children are being exposed to various forms of harmful content online and that platforms are failing to take appropriate action.
Pornography
I have grown increasingly concerned about the normalisation of sexual violence in online pornography, and the role that this plays in shaping children’s understanding of sex and relationships.
In January, I published “A lot of it is actually just abuse” which set out findings from a survey of over a thousand 16-21-year-olds and focus groups with teenagers.
The survey established that the average age of first exposure to pornography is now just 13 years old, with substantial proportions of young people surveyed having seen it at a much younger age. Qualitative research carried out with teenagers found that pornography exposure is related to the age at which teenagers are given their own phone.
Youth Justice
In March 2023, I published an Annex to my independent Family Review which sets out to understand family life from the perspective of the 490 children living in criminal justice settings, placed under custodial sentence or remand, in England and Wales.
Specifically, the report seeks to understand how children in the secure estate are supported to maintain meaningful relationships with their families and wider social networks, through physical, phone and video contact with the outside community.
Victims Bill
I spoke at the Justice Select Committee’s scrutiny session on the Victims’ Bill about the importance of putting children at the heart of the legislation and shaping protections around child victims’ specific needs following domestic, sexual or serious violence.
I have been vocal about the importance of having a strong Victims’ Bill which fully reflects child victims’ voices and recognise that children’s needs are distinct from adults. I published.
I am pleased that the Bill will include children born as the result of rape within the definition of a victim, as well as children who have witnessed domestic abuse.
