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Children in custody during lockdown

26 February 2021

Since the start of the Covid pandemic, the Children’s Commissioner’s Office has investigated and highlighted concerns about the treatment of children in secure settings. Our briefing in May used data collected from the Youth Custody Service (YCS) alongside a series of interviews with children to shine a light on conditions for children in custody during […]

Report
Vulnerable teenager

Five things you need to know about SEN in schools

19 February 2021

How children’s needs are met (or go unmet) in schools, and the implications of these for the SEND Review and other reforms

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Building back better

17 February 2021

When I became Children’s Commissioner for England six years ago, I set out an ambitious vision for a nation where childhood is understood and celebrated and where the voice of all children is listened to at the heart of Government. I had in mind a particular group of children who, in my experience of working […]

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Group of children

Characteristics of children entering care for the first time as teenagers

Last year, research from my office showed that even before the pandemic, there were 120,000 highly vulnerable children in England who were falling through the gaps in education and social care. This group of children – equivalent to 1 in 25 13-17 year olds – all had significant additional needs and vulnerabilities but were not […]

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Still not safe

6 February 2021

The public health response to youth violence

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Sad teen

Detention of unaccompanied children arriving in Kent during 2020

5 February 2021

This briefing looks at the immediate conditions unaccompanied asylum-seeking children faced after travelling to the UK, usually via boat, during 2020. Specifically, it focuses on the children who arrived at the Kent Intake Unit, where children’s identities are checked and their initial asylum claims are processed before they can be accommodated by local authorities. After […]

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Children’s Commissioner’s podcast: Lockdown, school and football

29 January 2021

In the second episode of the Children’s Commissioner’s podcast, Anne Longfield visits a school in South London where she talks to students about how the first coronavirus lockdown affected them, both at home and at school and what impact it had on their education and relationships. She also hears about a programme called Football Beyond […]

Podcast

The state of children’s mental health services 2019/20

28 January 2021

This is my fourth annual report on the state of children’s mental health services in England, and my last as Children’s Commissioner. I started this series of briefings because of the torrent of stories I was hearing from children about needing mental health services that weren’t there for them. I wanted to examine the data […]

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Boy smiling

Roadmap to reopening schools

26 January 2021

Policy briefing Ever since last August, the Children’s Commissioner has said “Schools must be the last to close and the first to reopen.” This is now a well-used phrase as parents, teachers, scientists, politicians and the media all recognise the massive impact that the lockdowns are having on children’s education, and even more importantly, on […]

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Children in school

Too many at-risk children are still invisible to social care

24 January 2021

Since March 2020 when schools closed at the start of the first national lockdown, more families have fallen into poverty and all the major risk factors to children – domestic violence, poor parental mental health, and alcohol/substance abuse – have heightened. At the same time there has been a significant fall (by 10% compared to […]

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Child poverty: the crisis we can’t keep ignoring

21 January 2021

Child poverty will continue to rise during this Parliament unless the Government commits to a bold, broad response. We are one of the most prosperous nations yet the number of children living in poverty is shocking and it is a cause for national shame. Child poverty has long been a fundamental problem facing Britain, and […]

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Boy counting money

Routes to citizenship

15 January 2021

Data gathered by the Children’s Commissioner’s Office on children’s routes to British citizenship

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