UK Children’s Commissioners’ joint report to UN Committeee on the Rights of the Child
Every five years, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child examines the whole UK on how well it is meeting its promises under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Along with the Children’s Commissioners of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, we are today publishing a series of […]
Anne Longfield congratulates Dame Rachel de Souza on her appointment as the next Children’s Commissioner for England
Anne Longfield congratulates Dame Rachel de Souza on her appointment as the next Children’s Commissioner for England: “The role of Children’s Commissioner is an honour and a privilege – holding to account, without fear or favour, those who make decisions affecting children’s lives, and shining a light on the many different issues facing children today. […]
Report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child
Joint Commissioners’ reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
Are we there yet? Our rights, our say
Children and young people’s voices about their experiences on the delivery of their rights
Briefing on the full Government response to the Online Harms White Paper
Three years since the publication of a Green Paper, and over 18 months since a White Paper, the Government has announced its final plans for a new Online Safety Bill. The Children’s Commissioner welcomes this groundbreaking legislation, which is a significant step forward in combatting online harms. There is now much work to be done […]
School attendance since September
In March 2020 schools across England closed for nearly all pupils. Those allowed to attend rarely did, and even a partial re-opening of schools in July saw a peak school attendance of just 17.5%. By the time schools re-opened in September, 575 million days of school had been missed by children in England. The impact […]
Response to Government’s Online Harms announcement
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, responding to the Government’s Online Harms proposals, said: “I am pleased that the Government has finally confirmed that it plans to introduce a new duty of care. The signs are that this regulation will have teeth, including strong sanctions for companies found to be in breach of their duties, […]
Children’s Commissioner podcast: Doncaster family hub
In this episode, Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield visits a family hub in Doncaster.
Our response to the recent judgement on the need for consultation with the Children’s Commissioner about changes affecting children
The following is a letter sent from Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, to Susan Acland-Hood, the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education, in response to the recent judgement on the need for consultation with the Children’s Commissioner and other organisations representing children about changes affecting children. I was pleased to see the […]
Plans by tech giants for more encrypted messaging risks greater child exploitation and abuse
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, has published a report, “Access Denied: How end to end encryption threatens children’s safety online”, looking at children’s use of private messaging services like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. The study suggests that millions of children in England are using messaging platforms that they are not old enough to be […]
Access denied: How end-to-end encryption threatens children’s safety online
This briefing aims to understand which apps and sites children and teens are using to communicate, and to find out more about what they are sharing on these platforms. In March 2020 we polled 2,003 children aged 8-17 on their use of messaging platforms, in an effort to understand the risks that these services may […]
Children’s thoughts on exams next year
What children think about exams taking place next year and the impact that this has had on them
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