How lockdown has affected children’s lives at home
Since schools closed to all but a few students in March, millions of children have had to stay at home. While schools started to open in the weeks leading up to the summer holidays, many children did not return to school and will not until September. Given this unprecedented interruption to learning for many children, […]
Children’s Commissioner warns 420,000 children in England are at risk of eviction unless Government acts
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, is today warning that hundreds of thousands of children will return to school in two weeks with the threat of housing eviction hanging over their families, unless the Government changes its mind and extends its ban on evictions. Her intervention comes as the Children’s Commissioner’s Office publishes a new […]
No way out
Last year, our report Bleak Houses found that there were around 210,000 homeless children in England. This included 120,000 children being housed by their council in temporary accommodation. Temporary accommodation comes in many forms, but unfortunately it is often very poor quality. My team spoke to families living in homes that were cramped, noisy and […]
Response from Universities UK to the UK’s four Children’s Commissioners regarding A Level results
Response from Universities UK to the UK’s four Children’s Commissioners regarding A Level results
Children without internet access during lockdown
An estimated 9% of families in the UK do not have a laptop, desktop or tablet at home. This digital divide is not new, but during the Covid-19 crisis its implications have been particularly stark. A good quality device (or more than one) and reliable internet connection have made all the difference for many children, […]
Statement from Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield on this year’s GCSE results
It is clear now that the algorithm used by Ofqual to determine this year’s ‘A’ level and GCSE results is irredeemably flawed. It is not in children’s interests for weeks of appeals and arguments among adults to continue. Nor is it in the interest of schools, which should be focusing on their final preparations for […]
Statement
Children’s Commissioners’ joint call to Universities
The four UK Children’s Commissioners have issued a joint call to UK universities asking them to honour the offers of a place they have already made to prospective domestic students.
Statement from the Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, on A-Level results day
A-Level students across the country are today receiving their grades, without having taken any final exams. Some will be celebrating, as they get the grades needed to take the next step in their education or begin their career. Sadly, many other students will be disappointed. While this is always the case on results day, the […]
Statement
Update on our letter regarding detaining children on public health grounds
Children from across the UK ask government scientists their questions about coronavirus
In our “children ask scientists about coronavirus” event, 12 young people from across the UK aged 7 to 19 asked scientists their questions about the coronavirus pandemic. The event was organised by the Children’s Commissioner’s Offices for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and was facilitated by GoScience, the government department who give scientific advice […]
Putting children first in future lockdowns
Given the risks of a second wave of Covid-19 infections leading to the need for further local lockdowns, or even a full national lockdown, this paper sets out the key actions needed to ensure that children are at the heart of planning for future lockdowns.
Children and schools must come before pubs and shops in planning for future Covid-19 lockdowns
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, has published a new briefing setting out the key actions needed to ensure children are at the heart of planning for any future coronavirus lockdowns, including making sure all children are back in school in September. The Children’s Commissioner argues that if any local or national lockdown takes place, schools […]
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