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Education

18 January 2021

All children have a right to a good education, and school plays such a key part in children’s lives

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Education

Prioritising teachers and other key workers in the children’s sector for Covid vaccination

The four UK Children’s Commissioners have written to the Chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation about the prioritisation of teachers and other key workers. Dear Professor Lim As the UK’s Children’s Commissioners, we are writing to urge you to reconsider prioritisation of teachers and other key workers in the children’s sector as […]

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Receiving a Covid vaccination

Routes to citizenship

15 January 2021

Data gathered by the Children’s Commissioner’s Office on children’s routes to British citizenship

Report

Good schools

Exploring the feasibility of creating a new ‘good schools index’ for secondary schools

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Children in art class at school

Independent review of children’s social care

Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, responding to the Government’s announcement of an independent review into the children’s social care system, said: “I have been calling for a widescale review of children’s social care for a long time and I am pleased this will now begin. I welcome the appointment of Josh MacAlister. “This is […]

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Building back better: Reaching England’s left behind children

8 January 2021

Watch live on YouTube Anne Longfield’s tenure as Children’s Commissioner for England ends at the end of February 2021. In her last speech as Children’s Commissioner, she will argue that children should be at the heart of the country’s efforts to rebuild following the Covid crisis. Date: Wednesday, 17 February 2021 Time: 10:30 am – […]

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Anne Longfield

Requesting details on Government plans to minimise learning loss during lockdown and support for reopening of schools

6 January 2021

The Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield has today (6th January) sent a letter to the Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson, following the start of the new national lockdown, to request further details on the Government’s plans to minimise learning loss during the national lockdown and support schools to reopen as soon as possible. The […]

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Advisory board

5 January 2021

The Children’s Commissioner’s Advisory Board challenges and advises the office and meets four-six times a year. The Advisory Board, a requirement of the Children and Families Act 2014, is made up of representatives from across children’s and wider sectors. The Advisory Board advises on how the powers of the Children’s Commissioner can be used to […]

Corporate Governance

Lockdown school closures mean we need to act now to save children’s education and wellbeing

Since the start of the pandemic, I have pushed again and again for schools to be the last to close and the first to open in any lockdown. Yet something that seemed unthinkable only a month ago – a national closure of schools – is now happening as a result of the new, more transmissible […]

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Homeschooling a child

Statement on new EU ePrivacy rules and the implications for children

23 December 2020

Yesterday, new EU ePrivacy rules came into effect which introduced new limits on the way in which technology companies can use messaging and calling data. The rules undermine the ability of companies to use established, privacy-preserving tools such as PhotoDNA to identify child sexual abuse imagery and grooming on their platforms. These tools work in […]

Statement

Person using laptop

Calling for radical ‘Scandinavian-style’ reforms to youth justice system

22 December 2020

Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, has published a report shining a light on the youth justice system in England. The report, “Injustice or In Justice: Children in the Justice System”, calls for a radical approach to preventing children becoming involved in crime and turning children’s lives around when they have spiralled out of control. […]

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Vulnerable teenager

Injustice or In Justice

A report about children and the justice system

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Vulnerable teenager

Archived Content

Pass the parcel: children posted around the care system

24 December 2019

“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 […]

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Teenager walking with backpack

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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Teenager walking with backpack

Receive our vacancies by email

29 November 2019

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 […]

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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

5 November 2019

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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Nurture with nature: Why environmental engagement is imperative for children

4 November 2019

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 […]

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Girl in park

EU children in Britain

29 October 2019

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 […]

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Union flag and EU flag

Children’s insights

This is the first issue in our regular series of insights into the views and experiences of children in England.

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Changes to gambling laws needed as our report into online gaming reveals children’s gambling fears

22 October 2019

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 […]

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