Response to the DfE’s announcement on unregulated accommodation for children in care
Anne Longfield, responding to the DfE’s announcement on unregulated accommodation for children in care, said: “The Government’s ban on unregulated provision for under-16s in care is very welcome, but needs to go further and include all under-18s. There are too many teenage children in care living in completely unsuitable and sometimes dangerous accommodation, including hostels […]
Five things you need to know about SEN in schools
How children’s needs are met (or go unmet) in schools, and the implications of these for the SEND Review and other reforms
Building back better
When I became Children’s Commissioner for England six years ago, I set out an ambitious vision for a nation where childhood is understood and celebrated and where the voice of all children is listened to at the heart of Government. I had in mind a particular group of children who, in my experience of working […]
Building back better – Anne Longfield’s final speech as Children’s Commissioner
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, has delivered her final speech in post with a challenge to the Prime Minister to show he is serious about children by putting them at the heart of his post-Covid plans. Her speech warned that the Prime Minister’s promise to ‘level up’ will be ‘just a slogan unless […]
Speech
Characteristics of children entering care for the first time as teenagers
Last year, research from my office showed that even before the pandemic, there were 120,000 highly vulnerable children in England who were falling through the gaps in education and social care. This group of children – equivalent to 1 in 25 13-17 year olds – all had significant additional needs and vulnerabilities but were not […]
Spend over £25,000: 2020 – 2021
We publish details of all spending over £25,000 on a quarterly basis. 1 April 2020 – 30 June 2020 Nil 1 July 2020 – 30 September 2020 Transaction date Merchant name Transaction amount Entity Details 14/08/2020 National Audit Office £33,600.00 OCC External Audit Services 1 October 2020 – 31 December 2020 Nil 1 January 2021 […]
Still not safe
The public health response to youth violence
Children will keep dying on our streets until there is a joined up public health response to gangs
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, is today (Saturday) publishing a report assessing how effectively existing infrastructure within local authorities is being used to deliver a public health approach to preventing gang involvement and youth violence. The Children’s Commissioner concludes that two years on from her last report into this issue and a year after […]
Detention of unaccompanied children arriving in Kent during 2020
This briefing looks at the immediate conditions unaccompanied asylum-seeking children faced after travelling to the UK, usually via boat, during 2020. Specifically, it focuses on the children who arrived at the Kent Intake Unit, where children’s identities are checked and their initial asylum claims are processed before they can be accommodated by local authorities. After […]
Our joint call on the government to include a statutory duty on local authorities to fund community-based services in the Domestic Abuse Bill
The Children’s Commissioner, Anne Longfield, the Victims’ Commissioner, Dame Vera Baird QC, and the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Nicole Jacobs, are jointly calling on the government to include a statutory duty on local authorities to fund community-based services in the Domestic Abuse Bill. In a joint statement, the Commissioners say: “It is vital that the government […]
Feedback
Children’s Commissioner’s podcast: Lockdown, school and football
In the second episode of the Children’s Commissioner’s podcast, Anne Longfield visits a school in South London where she talks to students about how the first coronavirus lockdown affected them, both at home and at school and what impact it had on their education and relationships. She also hears about a programme called Football Beyond […]
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.
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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 […]
