Amplifying the voices of care leavers: the IMO podcast wins gold
The IMO (“in my opinion”) project, backed by the Children’s Commissioner, amplifies the voices of children in care and care leavers. We share stories, experiences and advice directly from young people with care experience in the form of blogs, videos and animations, to change the narrative of the UK care system. Just over a year […]
Gambling act review
We’re submitting this briefing as evidence to the Government’s consultation on loot boxes in video games
The children who no-one knows what to do with
This paper summarises the findings of three years of work by the Children’s Commissioner’s Office and provides context for two further reports the Commissioner is publishing today (‘Private provision in children’s social care’ and ‘Stability index 2020’). The report explains the failure of local and national government to take responsibility for these children, and sets […]
Private provision in children’s social care
The care system contains many talented and tireless staff who provide excellent care, but the unfortunate reality is that the system still fails some children. The yearly Stability Index for children in care produced by this office shows that 1 in 10 children in care experience two or more home moves during a year, and […]
Stability index 2020
This analysis contains the 2020 update to the Stability Index: the Children’s Commissioner’s ongoing project measuring levels stability for children in care. This update focuses on the cohort of children who were in care on 31 March 2019. In previous years, this work has examined rates of stability for children in care across three domains: […]
Thousands of children in care being ‘failed by the state’ because of a broken residential care home market
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, has published a set of reports showing how the children’s residential social care system is broken and is failing many of the most vulnerable children, in particular those who are most at risk of falling through gaps in the system and becoming victims of criminal or sexual exploitation. Today’s reports […]
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 […]
Archived Content
Anne Longfield responds to the Government’s announcement on knife crime
Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, responding to the Government’s announcement on knife crime, said: “It is right that knife crime is seen as a public health issue, and that there is a duty put on those whose job it is to keep children safe to do so. “While this is a step forward, […]
Former Home Secretary and member of Children’s Commissioner advisory board Jacqui Smith responds to our vulnerability report
In April we celebrated the first year of the Sandwell Children’s Trust. In 2017, OFSTED found that services for the most vulnerable children and families in Sandwell were inadequate so the Trust was set up to drive improvement. I’m enormously proud of the progress we’re making. OFSTED have praised the grip and leadership of our […]
Childhood vulnerability in England 2019
The Children’s Commissioner’s 2019 childhood vulnerability report examines the latest scale of, and trends over time in, rates of childhood vulnerability. As with last year, we have estimated the total number of children in England currently receiving statutory support or intervention (those who are ‘in the system’). Based on the latest available data, we believe […]
Multi-billion pound tax cut promises from Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt should instead go on mending broken childhoods
Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, has launched her third annual Vulnerability Report.
Children in families at risk – Local area maps
These maps present our projected proportions of children living in households where an adult has any of the so called ‘toxic trio’ factors present, or where multiple factors exist in the same household.
About the data
The data shows the overall levels of vulnerability and need among children and young people in England, published in our annual Vulnerability Report. We’ve spoken with children and young people, as well as organisations who work with children, to help us choose which groups to include and how to describe them. This has led to […]
IMO
IMO is a voice for teenagers in care and for care leavers. It is somewhere you can share stories, experiences and achievements, get and give advice, and find loads of great free stuff!
Digital 5 a day
Easy to follow, practical steps for children and parents to achieve a healthy and balanced digital diet
The paralysis currently affecting much of Whitehall and Westminster is letting down Children in Need
Anne Longfield responds to the government’s Children in Need review
Universal Credit – “Children are going hungry. It’s not a myth, it’s a fact.”
As Universal Credit rolls out across the country, we have been checking in regularly with a foodbank in an area which is transitioning to UC to see if there has been any noticeable impact on the number of families with children using their services. In our final instalment of this series, Linda, who runs a food bank in a […]
