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 criminalisation of children in care
It is often said that the best judgement of a civilised society comes by looking at how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. If that is the case – and as Children’s Commissioner it is a guiding principle – then this report offers a stark warning to society. Time and time again, we see cases […]
“Guilty until Proven Innocent”: Children’s Commissioner delivers 2025 Longford Lecture
The Longford Lectures, hosted by the Longford Trust since 2002, are held each November reflecting on prison policy and the need for broader social reform. Previous lectures have been given by well-known figures, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Mary McAleese of Ireland, and Cherie Blair. On Tuesday 11th November, the Children’s Commissioner delivered the 2025 […]
Press Notice: Failing services mean custody being used as a ‘waiting room’ for innocent children, Children’s Commissioner warns
Hundreds of children are left in a ‘waiting room’ limbo each year, being unnecessarily locked up in custody while awaiting trial or sentencing – not because they pose the greatest risk, but because the systems designed to support them are failing, the Children’s Commissioner has warned. Research on the use of custodial remand for children […]
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 […]
Archived Content
Lockdown experiences: Children with autism
Just after lockdown started we spoke to Ted (10), Robyn (16), Lily (14) and their mum Mandy about how their lives had changed. This week we caught up with them again to hear how they’ve been getting on. Despite being a bit fed up, they’re generally doing fine. But as the mother of three autistic […]
Annual report 2017-18
Half way through my term as Children’s Commissioner, I am as ambitious and aspirational for children as I ever was. This role is a constant reminder that a childhood that is happy and full of love is the best springboard to adult life that any of us could have; that children are resourceful, and achieve […]
Children’s Commissioner for England creates local area profiles of child vulnerability during Covid-19
Analysis of the extent of child vulnerability around the country, much of which is hidden from sight under lockdown.
Help at Hand privacy policy
How we manage your data and your rights when you get in touch with the Help at Hand team.
Calling on the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice to ensure the rights of children in custody are upheld during the coronavirus outbreak
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, has written to Robert Buckland, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, with regards to the Ministry of Justice’s response to the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus and the protection of children in youth custody. Find the full letter below; Dear Secretary of State, I am writing with […]
Insights into the lives of children and young people
This blog looks at 3 recent studies that provide interesting insights about the lives and views of children.
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.
HCLG Select Committee report shows children’s services are in crisis
Today’s report from the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee doesn’t pull its punches: children’s services need an extra £3.1bn in funding to survive, and that’s just the start. Coming on the back of highly critical reports from the Public Accounts Committee and the National Audit Office, the report paints a picture of malign […]
Online platforms must do more to tackle social media content which is harmful to children
The following letter, written by Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, has been sent to several of the leading social media organisations, including Facebook, which includes Instagram and WhatsApp, Snapchat, Youtube and Pinterest. The tragic suicide of Molly Russell and her father’s appalled response to the material she was viewing on social media before her […]
Who knows what about me?
Data can deliver an incredible range of benefits to individuals and society, but we do not know everything about how children’s data might be used – not just now, but also in the future, as children become adults.
