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
If children led the care review, what would they change?
A year ago, in its Conservative election manifesto, the government made a commitment to review the social care system for children. For children having to grow up within this system, and for the adults around them, this news has brought a glimmer of hope. It was finally some acknowledgement of what children have been shouting […]
Exams are on, but we still need to recognise the time children have lost from school
No matter how little they relish taking exams, teenagers will welcome the clarity in today’s announcement that exams are going to happen next summer. Children have told me that’s the first thing they want – to know for sure what’s going to happen. It should also put a stop to the ferocious testing and assessment […]
Should Santa have to quarantine? What children think about Christmas
We asked children through focus groups what they thought about Christmas this year, and many raised concerns and questions.
What did the Spending Review do for children?
Wednesday’s Spending Review, setting out departmental spending for the 2021-22 financial year, revealed the Government’s key priorities as it continues to grapple with the economic consequences of COVID-19. It coincided with the publication of new economic and fiscal forecasts which predict a drawn-out economic crisis. Unemployment will peak at 7.5% in the middle of next […]
Hundreds of vulnerable ‘invisible children’ in England are being locked away without any legal protection
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, is today publishing a report shining a light on some of the most vulnerable children in the country – those children who are living ‘behind closed doors’, including those locked up in secure hospitals, prisons or children’s homes. The report, “Who are they, where are they?” shows that in […]
Who are they? Where are they? 2020
Last year we produced our first annual report on children living in secure accommodation. ‘Who are they? Where are they?’ set out, as far as possible given limited available data, how many children in England are ‘locked up’ in many different kinds of institutions. The report found a relatively small group of children – 1,465 […]
Children’s experiences in mental health wards
As part of our research into the experiences of children admitted to inpatient mental health wards, we carried out visits to four different Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) inpatient wards, including: two general CAMHS wards, one Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and one Specialist Eating Disorder Unit. The primary focus of the work […]
Mean streets
Teenagers are consistently presented in the media as ‘trouble’, as perpetrators of crime and anti-social behaviour, alarming knife-wielding creatures lurking in groups in hoodies, mobile phones clamped to their ears. Some shopping centres even ban hoodies or use high-pitched ‘mosquito’ devices to prevent teens hanging around. But we have become concerned at the level […]
Anne Longfield presents her vision for a better care system
On Tuesday, 24 November the Children’s Commissioner, Anne Longfield OBE, presented a speech online where she reflected on what she has learnt from children and young people in the 6 years she has been Commissioner, and how they have felt about the care and support they have received. Drawing on new research conducted by […]
Statement on today’s ruling by the Court of Appeal on removing safeguards for children in care
Anne Longfield, responding to today’s ruling by the Court of Appeal on removing safeguards for children in care, said: “I am delighted that the Court of Appeal has recognised the vital importance of the voice of the child in care in decisions taken that affect them – including, and I would argue especially, during a […]
Statement
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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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 […]
