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
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 […]
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 […]
