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When I speak to children about what it’s like to be a child in England, a theme that often comes up is their desire to feel safe and confident in their homes, schools and local areas.   As Children’s Commissioner I have heard from hundreds of thousands of children about their worries, their ambitions and their […]

A new report from the Children’s Commissioner has raised concerns about the quality and consistency of support for some of England’s most vulnerable children, with decisions about their care often driven by local capacity and resource rather than the needs of families. Families whose children are deemed as ‘in need’ under Section 17 of the […]

There is a group of just over 400,000 children living in England who are defined as ’children in need’, because they have been identified as needing meaningful intervention from the state to support their development, prevent problems in their home lives from escalating or to help if they are disabled.   Around a quarter of these […]

This week is National Care Leavers Week, with the theme ‘All of Us, We are One.’ It’s been a week of celebrating care experienced young people through events across the country, the lighting up of municipal buildings on Thursday 31st October and #NCLW adverts on Channel 4. To mark the culmination of this important week […]

Every child in care should have a stable loving home and deserves a say about where they live and what it’s like. They should have access to advocates who can help them with this – but this is not always the case. Since April 2023, the Children’s Commissioner has been broadening children’s access to advocacy […]

Yesterday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivered the Budget in which she announced plans to rebuild public services.  Among the announcements was that schools in England will receive an increase of up to £1 billion for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The news comes just days after the National Audit Office warned […]

As Children’s Commissioner, I have had the privilege to hear from many brilliant and inspiring care experienced young people about their lives now and hopes for the future. Care experienced young people are rightly ambitious for their futures and have told me what support they need to help them meet their own goals. To help […]

The online world has evolved significantly since I started as Children’s Commissioner in 2021. A technological revolution followed the COVID-19 pandemic – featuring the launch of new Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools into the public realm and the increasing presence of social media platforms in the lives of children. As we mark the first anniversary of […]

Today the National Audit Office has published a report which finds that families of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have lost confidence in a system that falls short and is failing to deliver better outcomes for children.   The report also found that despite funding rising, the system is financially ‘unsustainable’ and in […]

Today I am launching the recruitment for my second group of Youth Ambassadors.   I am looking for another 16 passionate and articulate young people, who are aged between 16 and 17, to champion the views of England’s children.   You can apply from anywhere in England. My current Ambassadors are based in London; Oxford; Cumbria; Bristol; […]

 As Children’s Commissioner, we need to do more to keep every child safe from harm. That includes violence by adults, including parents towards children. We have seen too many cases where children have been harmed and died at the hands of the people who should love and care for them most. A ban on smacking […]

An abridged version of the below blog appeared in The Sunday Times on October 13th. In 2024, we would never imagine that children in this country are being told they cannot access their education because there is no suitable school for them. We would not expect that some children are non-verbal and wearing nappies well […]