The Mental Health Bill: Briefing for Report stage
The Children’s Commissioner’s role is to promote and protect the rights of children, including by advising on legislation which affects children. She has a particular duty towards those children with a social worker, in care, or living away from home – including those in mental health inpatient settings. Her advocacy services, Help at Hand, regularly […]
Children’s mental health services 2022-23
Since I came into post in 2021, I have spoken to a million children and young people across the country. The vast majority of children are happy, and feel supported by their family, school and wider community. However, there is a growing group of children who are struggling with their mental health. This generation of […]
Health
Health is a core pillar of my work following ‘The Big Ask’. The majority of children aged 9 to 17 (80%) told me they were happy or okay with their mental health. But 20% of children were unhappy, making it a top issue for children today. This figure is also higher amongst older teenage girls. […]
The Big Conversation: Period Poverty, reflections from a Youth Ambassador
As Children’s Commissioner hearing from children directly about issues they care about is one of the biggest privileges of my role. In today’s increasingly connected world, issues facing children in England are often those that impact children globally – and discussing those issues with children both here and abroad is an important part of my […]
Research with children to inform the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy
Research with children to inform the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy On 17 July 2024, the Prime Minister announced the creation of a new Ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce to devise a Child Poverty Strategy. This taskforce is supported by the Child Poverty Unit in the Cabinet Office. The Strategy will address systemic drivers of poverty, including […]
National Care Leavers Week: In Their Own Words
This week is National Care Leavers Week, with the theme ‘All of Us, We are One.’ It’s been a week of celebrating care experienced young people through events across the country, the lighting up of municipal buildings on Thursday 31st October and #NCLW adverts on Channel 4. To mark the culmination of this important week […]
Celebrating 100 Voices for 100 Days, and continuing The Big Conversation
“The government need to listen to children more, as it’s our future and the world that we have to live in,” girl, 11, The Big Ambition Back in July, following the general election, I launched my 100 Voices Campaign for the first 100 Days of the new government. Every day I shared a child’s […]
Strip searching of children in England and Wales: First complete dataset for 2018–2023, including new data July 2022-June 2023
In light of the shocking case of Child Q, a 15-year-old Black girl who was strip searched while at school in Hackney nearly four years ago, I wanted to use my statutory powers as Children’s Commissioner to investigate the practice of strip searching children by the police. Child Q’s case was so extreme that I […]
The Big Ambition for Online Safety: Reflections from my Ambassadors
As Children’s Commissioner, children tell me about how their experiences of the online world impact their lives. They want to take advantage of all the positive opportunities that the online world offers them, with the chance to socialise, learn and play in online spaces. The Big Ambition results revealed children do not see a difference […]
The importance of attendance
As the final few days of summer come to a close, it’s time to get ready for the return to school. I know that so much work goes in to make the first week a success. Teachers are completing inset days, parents are buying pencil cases, and children up and down the country are rushing […]
New evidence on pornography’s influence on harmful sexual behaviour among children
New report by Children’s Commissioner for England identifies links between children’s experiences of pornography and subsequent harmful sexual behaviour or abuse 9th May 2023: Testimonies from young people exploring the links between watching violent pornography and experiencing harmful sexual behaviours are highlighted in a new report published today by the Children’s Commissioner for England. The […]
Press release
Letter to the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR)
Dear Joanna Cherry KC MP, RE: Follow-up from the oral evidence session on 18 January Thank you for your letter and for inviting me to give evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR). I also want to say thank you to the wider committee members for maintaining a consistent focus on ensuring that […]
Archived Content
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 […]
Anne Longfield’s response to the CQC report into the provision of children’s mental health services
Today’s report from the Care Quality Commission into child and adolescent mental health services provision makes for sad reading. The CQC, commissioned by the Government to review child mental health services, has found that whilst most specialist services provide good quality care, too many young people find it difficult to access services.
Why I’m asking urgent questions about the state of mental health provision for children.
Over the past week my office has been helping two carers desperate to secure mental health accommodation for children for whom they are responsible.
Being ambitious for children’s mental health
Poor mental health is not inevitable, and all young people deserve the chance to live happy and healthy lives. But at the moment many who are struggling and are actively seeking help are being let down.
Children with mental health problems need help to recover and thrive
Today’s World Mental Health Day reminds us how real a problem this is for so many children and challenges us reach out and support their needs.
Improving the living situation of children living in secure accommodation
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commisioner for England, has written to Vicky Ford MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families, Lucy Frazer QC MP, Minister of State, Ministry of Justice and Nadine Dorries MP, Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health regarding concerns about children in living in secure accommodation, particularly those […]
Building back better – Anne Longfield’s final speech as Children’s Commissioner
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, has delivered her final speech in post with a challenge to the Prime Minister to show he is serious about children by putting them at the heart of his post-Covid plans. Her speech warned that the Prime Minister’s promise to ‘level up’ will be ‘just a slogan unless […]
Speech
Anne Longfield presents her vision for a better care system
On Tuesday, 24 November the Children’s Commissioner, Anne Longfield OBE, presented a speech online where she reflected on what she has learnt from children and young people in the 6 years she has been Commissioner, and how they have felt about the care and support they have received. Drawing on new research conducted by […]
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 […]
How lockdown affected children’s stress and anxiety
Children’s lives changed beyond recognition when full lockdown began on 23rd March. With schools shut to the majority of pupils, the regular rhythms of childhood and adolescence – from school runs and playtime, to exams, celebrations and graduation – were put on indefinite hold. Anecdotally, we know that many children struggled with the demands of […]
