Tips on how to help a young carer, from a young carer
As Children’s Commissioner it is my mission to make England the best country for children to grow up. This means the ambitions of every child must be matched with the support they need around them to help them succeed.  I am determined that we achieve this vision for all children especially young carers as we […]
The Big Ambition for Children’s Social Care, reflections from a care leaver
Today I am sharing a blog post written by a care leaver in my team. Benita wanted to share some thoughts after attending The Big Ambition for Children’s Social Care roundtable. A few weeks ago the Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza co-hosted The Big Ambition for Children’s Social Care with her recently appointed Ambassadors. […]
‘Inspire Inclusion’ – International Women’s Day 2024
A Better World. That’s one of the founding pillars of my work as Children’s Commissioner, ever since launching the Big Ask three years ago. Thousands of children have told me they want a safer, fairer, more inclusive world for themselves and their families and friends – and I am continually impressed by their efforts to […]
Urgent change is needed in England’s young offenders institutions, says Children’s Commissioner
I am both shocked and appalled by the details in Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor’s report yesterday about a girl in a young offender institution (YOI) who had her clothes removed twice under restraint, by an all-male team of prison officers. The same inspection report that failed Wetherby on the grounds of safety and […]
Statement from the Children’s Commissioner on strip searching of young offenders
In response to findings of intrusive and traumatic strip searching of girls living at Wetherby Young Offenders Institute by HMI Prisons, Children’s Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza said: “As Children’s Commissioner, I am appalled by the findings in HMIP’s report. Strip searching is an intrusive and potentially traumatic power, as I’ve shown in […]
Children on Child in Need Plans: Huge regional variation uncovered for some of England’s most vulnerable children
As Children’s Commissioner, I have a statutory duty to promote and protect the rights of all children, but to have particular regard to children who are living away from home or receiving social care services. Children’s social care works with children who cannot live at home and who are taken into care, children at risk […]
Huge regional variation in support from children’s social services for some of England’s most vulnerable children Â
Over 100,000 of England’s most vulnerable children who are on social service plans are getting a postcode lottery of support with huge regional variations dictating the level of protection they get, previously unseen data from the Children’s Commissioner has revealed. In worst case scenarios, these inconsistencies and lack of consistent early intervention can prevent children […]
New statistics show a huge increase in the number of children completely missing education
Almost 120,000 children of compulsory school age were recorded as missing education at some point in 2022/23 which is up by almost 25% from the year before, according to new statistics published today. The figures from the Department of Education also showed a surge in the number of children home educated in the same year. […]
Auditory Verbal therapy: supporting deaf children to thrive at school and beyond
Anita Grover, Chief Executive at Auditory Verbal UK Meet 11-year-old Louis from Cambridge. His parents were first told he had hearing loss at 18 months old. They wanted to do everything they could to ensure he had the same opportunities in life as hearing children. Keen for Louis to learn to listen and talk, they […]
The Big Ambition for Online roundtable: reflections from youth AmbassadorsÂ
As part of The Big Ambition, I co-hosted the latest roundtable with some of my recently appointed Ambassadors focusing on online safety. The roundtable brought together representatives from Google, Meta, TikTok, Ukie – the UK video games trade body – and X to discuss the theme: “What more could platforms do to keep children safe […]
Lost in Transition: The destinations of children who leave the state education system
When I became Children’s Commissioner, one of the first things I did was to conduct a nationwide inquiry into the educational experiences of children leaving state education. These children had fallen off the radar during the pandemic. Local authorities confided that they did not know where they had gone or how to support them to […]
Lost in Transition, too many children falling through the cracks after leaving state education
When I became Children’s Commissioner, one of the first things I did was to conduct a nationwide inquiry into the educational experiences of children leaving state education. These children had fallen off the radar during the pandemic. Local authorities confided that they did not know where they had gone or how to support them to […]
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