What are children happy and concerned about since returning to school?
We asked 1,500 children about their experiences of returning to school
Some sort of normal
All children have a fundamental right to get an education; the six months children spent out of school this year was the biggest disruption to that right since the second World War. Most children in England were unable to go to school for most, if not all, of lockdown, leading to the loss of roughly […]
10 asks for care leavers
When a child is in care, or is a care leaver aged under 25, the local council is their ‘corporate parent’. This means that they should act towards these children and young people as any good parent would to their own child. And just as other parents continue to love, support, care for and be […]
Audit and risk committee
The Children’s Commissioner’s audit and risk committee provides advice, challenge and scrutiny to the office, including: The committee meets four-five times a year and is made up of representatives from across children’s and wider sectors with a range of backgrounds and experiences. One member must be a qualified accountant, and the chair of the committee […]
School return: Covid-19 and school attendance
Examining school attendance rates during and after lockdown
Response to NHS figures on children’s mental health
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, responding to today’s NHS figures showing one in six children in England have a probable mental health problem, said: “This dramatic increase in the number of children struggling with mental health problems, worsened by the Covid crisis, is extremely alarming. It should shock the Government into immediate action to […]
Inpatient mental health wards during Covid-19
Focusing on the experiences of children living in mental health wards and how Covid-19 and lockdown has affected their hospital experience
CHLDRN feedback
We’d love to hear how you’re finding the CHLDRN app, and any suggestions and feedback that you may have to make it better in the future.
Governments have a duty to work together to prevent asylum seeking children from risking their lives
This summer hundreds of children risked their lives embarking on highly dangerous journeys from France to the UK by boat. After Covid-19 struck in March, child refugees abroad saw their already desperate living conditions deteriorate as support and aid fell away. In Calais, evictions and the dismantling of camps left children without shelter and basic […]
Lifting children out of poverty and eliminating child hunger is a moral imperative
Today MPs from across the political divide will support a Ten Minute Rule Bill introduced by the MP Emma Lewell Buck. The School Breakfast Bill seeks to provide schools in disadvantaged areas with the support required to give a free, healthy school breakfast to children. It would build on the existing National School Breakfast Programme […]
Your voice
Every year, we speak to children all over England to gather their views on what is going well for them, what isn’t, what needs to change and how. What children tell us influences our work for the coming year. Read our latest business plan consultation. We currently don’t have an open Voices survey.
Government scientists respond with more answers from children’s coronavirus questions
During a virtual event on the 11th of August, 12 children from across the UK had the opportunity to ask their own Covid-19 related questions covering different topic areas, such as social bubbles, face masks and public transport, which were answered by three government scientists, Professor Brooke Rogers, Professor Charlotte Watts and Professor Russell Viner. […]
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.
Receive our vacancies by email
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 […]
