Our vision for children, young people and families

Being a child can be brilliant. It can be fun and exciting, full of places to explore and friends to play with. It can also be scary and frustrating, and it can be lonely. We all know which of those things we’d prefer for our children. Children need to go through a range of experiences to build resilience and grow into healthy, happy and confident adults, so while we can never get rid of all the difficult parts of growing up, as a country we can create the foundations for children to have the best possible childhoods, even through the trickier times.

Loving homes, a good education and being safe and healthy, including good mental health, are all important. So is having fun and having things to do with your friends, and looking forward to a good job when you’re older. Over half a million children told the Children’s Commissioner those were the things they wanted. Our job in government – both local and national – is to put in place the foundations for all children to have those things. Children’s experiences vary enormously, so for some children that will mean big interventions, while for others we’ll need to provide support here and there. For many, it simply means that we create great places to grow up.

We believe every child should have five things to thrive:

• Love
• Fun
• A chance to learn and grow
• Safety
• Health

We all want the same things for children, but we can’t all get there on the same path. We need different approaches depending on local demographics, levels of deprivation, health needs, access to housing and open spaces, and so much more. And of course, different children and families will have different views and wishes about what will work for them. This is where councils come in. They know their areas best and have proven time and again their skill in bringing together services and residents within communities to put together plans that work.

Our Local Government White Paper details what’s needed for councils to deliver on their ambitions for their communities. This vision complements the White Paper and delves deeper into councils’ specific role in relation to babies, children, young people and their families.

It also links closely to the Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. Councils agree with the Government that “every child should believe that success belongs to them”; this paper sets out where we want to go and how councils and the Government can work together as partners to make it happen.

Why it’s important

Stability for children – in their homes, their relationships and their schools – gives children a strong foundation on which to grow. It enables a sense of belonging and security that in turn offer a sense of safety in which to explore and develop.

All children will experience changes at some point in their childhood, from changing class and school to moving house. These transitions, while potentially stressful to children initially, where well supported are good opportunities for children to develop good coping skills and healthy stress responses. However, as levels of insecurity increase, so do the potentially negative outcomes for children.

Where children are growing up surrounded by constant insecurity, such as moving home and school frequently, experiencing insecure bonds with their parents or carers or living with food or fuel insecurity, this exposes children to significant stress which impacts upon healthy development. Experiencing circumstances beyond our control can also lower our sense of self-efficacy which is key to our ability to plan and engage in goal-oriented behaviours which can ultimately impact on our lives and achievements in the longer term.

Studies of children in the US and the UK have identified that children who move home more frequently:

• have poorer overall physical and mental health
• experience negative impacts on their academic performance
• are more likely to experience emotional and behavioural problems.

Many of these effects exist even after factors such as socio-economic status and parental education level have been controlled for.

Moving home can sometimes mean moving school. While this can be positive for some children, research by the RSA found that children who moved school in-year tended to have lower attainment than their peers, though it also noted that lower attaining schools tended to receive a disproportionate number of in-year movers while 61 per cent of in-year movers in the study were eligible for the pupil premium, had a special need or both.

In 2017 the Children’s Commissioner’s report into the stability of children in care highlighted that “children themselves say that stability is the most important aspect of their experience of care. Consistent, high-quality relationships are important – they enhance feelings of security, support their ability to form relationships as they grow into adults, and enable the development of a sense of belonging and identity.”

As children told the commissioner:

 I’m not willing to build up relationships again when they are going to leave again in a few months.”

Research has shown that receiving love and affection as a young child has a positive effect on children’s long-term development. For example, longitudinal studies have reported that a child’s ability to form and maintain healthy relationships throughout life may be significantly impaired by having an insecure attachment to a primary caregiver. The Welsh Government highlights that warm, loving and affectionate relationships with children help them to feel safe and secure, resulting in their being more likely to be happy, confident and able to handle conflict, and likely to explore and develop well.

The Early Intervention Foundation reports that there is strong evidence that supportive adult-child relationships are essential for child wellbeing, and furthermore that supportive relationships from caregivers are associated with improved long-term outcomes. The Center for the Developing Child at Harvard University notes that “the most common protective factor for children and teens who develop the capacity to overcome serious hardship is having at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive parent, caregiver or other adult.”

Where we are now

Support for families

There were 399,500 children in need on 31 March 2024, roughly level with the previous year but up 2.6 per cent or 10,200 children on 2020 levels. 49,900 children were on child protection plans in 2024, similar to the 2020 figure of 51,510 children. The rate of children on child protection plans on 31 March is the lowest now (41.6 per 10,000 children) is the lowest rate of any year since 2014. 

It is not unusual for a child to need help from children’s social care – in 2022, 3 per cent of children (just under 400,000 of 12 million) were in the social care system at any one time , and around one in ten children receives support from a social worker at some point – around three in every classroom.

75 local authority areas have received a share of £301.75 million in government funding for the period 2022-25 to deliver the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. The ambition of this funding was to enable around half of upper-tier authorities in England to transform their services into a family hub model, providing families with integrated support to help them care for their children from conception right through to the start of adulthood. This programme aims to build the evidence base for what works when it comes to improving outcomes for babies, children and families in different delivery contexts

Councils have been forced to almost halve the amount they spend on early intervention services from £3.7bn to £2bn between 2010/11 and 2021/22, while in the same period, spending on crisis and late intervention services rose from £6bn to £8.8bn. Overall, 81 per cent of council spending went towards ‘late intervention’ services in 2021/22, up from 58 per cent in 2010/11. The fall in early intervention services is not uniform, with the most deprived local authority areas experiencing the most significant cuts .

Research highlights the challenge of evaluating early help, in particular because the social context that children live in (that is, the impact of factors such as poverty and inequality) has such a significant impact on their lives. However, there is a wide range of programmes with good evidence of improving children’s outcomes which can form part of a strong, integrated support offer that recognises the wider context and grounds support in the lived experience of children and families.

The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care highlighted ethnic disparities in children’s social care intervention in family life that cannot be explained by deprivation alone, in particular an under-representation of some ethnic minority groups in children in care rates in poorer neighbourhoods and an over-representation in affluent neighbourhoods. Black and Mixed ethnicity children are over-represented in the group of children with long-term child in need plans, while children from Black, Asian and any other ethnic groups were more likely to go straight into care compared to White and Mixed ethnicity children, who were more likely to be on a child protection plan first. The review outlines a range of reasons for these disparities, including ethnic minority families finding it more difficult to access early help, and services not being representative of their communities. The review reports some evidence that smaller, community-based organisations are more effective at engaging and working with those from ethnic communities.

There is a strong link between parental mental health and young people’s mental health. The rates of mental health problems are highest for children and young people living with a parent with poor mental health and for those living with a parent in receipt of disability related income. There is evidence to show the importance of working with families and households, yet most mental health services focus on treating the individual. A whole household approach to supporting mental health can make a difference to outcomes for young people and their families. 

Kinship

According to the 2011 census, an estimated 180,040 children were living with a relative under kinship care in the UK, with another 20,000 children living with family friends . 

Research by the charity Kinship has found that kinship carers often face significant challenges in caring for children. 12 per cent of kinship carers told the charity that they were concerned they would have to stop caring for their kinship child in the next year, most commonly due to financial issues and challenges managing children’s emotional and behavioural needs .

Nearly half of kinship carers reported giving up work at some point to care for children, with seven in ten spending their savings or pension pots and four in ten skipping meals, using food banks or buying less food.

Children in care

There were 83,630 children in care on 31 March 2024. This is a reduction of 130 children on the previous year, which was the highest number on record. The proportion of children in care varies significantly between areas, from 191 per 10,000 in Stoke-on-Trent to 25 per 10,000 in Richmond upon Thames. 57 per cent of children in care are males, and 65 per cent of children in care are ages 10 and above. 71 per cent are of White ethnicity, 11 per cent Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups, 7 per cent Black, African, Caribbean or Black British, and 5 per cent Asian or Asian British. 

The increase in the number of children in care is concentrated disproportionately in some areas. Nearly three quarters (71 per cent) of the increase in children in care between 2013-2021 was driven by just a fifth of councils, which could not be explained by population size, rurality, deprivation or region of the country .

While the number of children starting to be looked after has fallen since 2017, the number of children ceasing to be looked after has also fallen, leading to overall increases in the number of children in care. This also means children are spending longer being looked after. 

The age profile of children entering care has changed since 2013, with over 16s accounting for 20 per cent of entrants in 2021, compared to 13 per cent  in 2013 (some of this can be explained by increasing numbers of UASC coming into care). Under 1s, children aged 1-4 and children aged 10-15 have all experienced falls (2-3 percentage points) in proportions of entrants. 

Abuse or neglect is the primary need for 66 per cent of children in care, with ‘family dysfunction’ the next most common reason (12 per cent). Most children (75 per cent) are placed under care orders (a court order placing a child in the care or supervision of a local authority). 

67 per cent of children in care are in foster placements, with 24 per cent of those in foster placements with a relative or friend. 10 per cent live in children’s homes, 7 per cent live in supported accommodation, while 2 per cent were placed for adoption.

In 2024, 7 in 10 looked after children had one placement, while one in 10 had three or more placements. Most children (69 per cent) were placed within 20 miles of home, though children placed for adoption were mostly likely to be placed more than 20 miles from home and those in foster placements or living with parents were most likely to be 20 miles or less from home.  

The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care emphasised the importance of stable, loving relationships for children in care, noting that 6 per cent of care leavers report having no one to provide emotional support and one in ten only having support from their leaving care workers. A third of care leavers have reported to Ofsted that they do not know where to get help or support. Furthermore, a study in 2020 found that nearly 12,000, or 15 per cent, of children in care were not living with at least one of their siblings.

There is a significant shortage of secure children’s homes places in England.132 places are available for children placed under section 25 of the Children Act 1989 (“welfare placements”), however at any one time around 50 children each day are waiting for a place. This has increased from 25 in 2021. 

Bright Spots, anonymous online surveys for children in care and care leavers, reported in 2022 that more than 9 in 10 children in care had an adult they could trust, though this ranged from 97 per cent for 8-10 year olds down to 83 per cent for 17 year olds and white children were more likely to report having a trusted adult than Black and Asian children. The majority of children in care trusted their carers, but again this declined for older age groups and those in residential care.

Trusted adults

Research by the EIF highlighted that parents and young people accessing family support services identify a lack of cultural sensitivity within those services, with services not representative of local communities and some practitioners not displaying cultural sensitivity or an understanding of cultural or religious influences on family dynamics.

There are currently significant challenges within the social work workforce which make it more difficult to ensure that children have a consistent social worker. The Children’s Commissioner’s stability index 2019 found that three in five  in 5 children in care experienced at least one change in social worker in 2017/18, while just over a quarter experienced two or more changes. Ofsted has highlighted that in the year leading up to September 2021, 8.6 per cent of all local authority children’s social workers left the profession, up from 7.2 per cent the previous year, with many leavers those who were highly experienced .

An additional challenge is that posed by the changing role and behaviour of children’s social work agencies. Agencies are increasingly requiring councils to employ whole teams of social workers, rather than individuals to cover vacancies, and using short notice periods for those social workers. The issue of short notice periods was highlighted in the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel review into the deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson, with the panel highlighting that an agency social worker left the council one week after visiting Star, without completing an assessment. Their intention to give notice was not known to the council when the case was allocated.

Youth workers can act as trusted adults to young people, offering support that is seen as independent of family or school. However, as outlined in Pillar Two, youth services have faced significant cuts in the last fifteen years with access to trained youth workers suffering as a result.

Immigration

The number of unaccompanied children seeking asylum in England has increased considerably over the last decade, from 2,050 in 2014 to 7,380 in 2024. In February 2022, the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) which places children in homes around the country was made mandatory to try to ensure that all children arriving were found suitable homes quickly, as ports of entry were finding it difficult to accommodate all children. Despite this, it continues to be a challenge to find suitable homes for all children as soon as they arrive and as a result, 1,606 children were placed by the Home Office in hotels on the south coast between June 2021 and March 2022. A High Court judgement has since ruled that hotels cannot be used to routinely accommodate children, with additional support being provided to Kent County Council to increase its capacity to support newly arrived children and additional incentivised funding being made available to councils to accept children through the NTS in summer 2024.

With significant numbers of children continuing to arrive, the Home Office made changes to the NTS in August 2022 to increase the proportion of UAS children each council was expected to support, and to reduce the amount of time between referral and transfer. While an additional £6,000 per child transferred was offered alongside these changes, there is significant concern that the changes fail to address the challenges within the NTS. Furthermore, councils are very concerned about the number of different asylum and migration schemes now in place without any join up of these, leading to significant pressure on services in some parts of the country. 

Most families with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) are working, however an inquiry by the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee found that many children in NRPF families experienced homelessness or live in overcrowded, inappropriate housing. Citizens Advice told the Work and Pensions Committee that for families with NRPF, one in two were behind on rent, 44 per cent lives in overcrowded accommodation and almost one in five couldn’t afford to heat or light their home. It was welcome that the childcare schemes were extended to families with NRPF as a route to increase household incomes, but the new childcare schemes for two-year-olds are also unavailable to many families with NRPF as some working parents will need to meet residence requirements. 

The inquiry noted that the Government does not know how many families are living in the UK with NRPF, nor how many of those are living in poverty. Thousands of families apply for a change of conditions every year to gain access to public funds if they are destitute or at risk of becoming destitute, and the great majority are successful after an average wait of a year and a half. 

Councils support thousands of children in families with NRPF, costing millions of pounds each year. Councils are not reimbursed for this. Supporting former UASC care leavers who have no recourse to public funds is a further challenge linked to the National Transfer Scheme.

Where we want to be

Why it's important

Being a child should be a time of fun, learning and exploration, to give the chance to grow into the best versions of ourselves. Play and recreation are so important that they are enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which recognises “the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities…and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.”

Unicef highlights that play is one of the most important ways in which young children gain essential knowledge and skills. It enables children to make sense of the world around them and of their own experiences; it is joyful; it often combines physical, mental and verbal engagement; it allows children to try out new skills and challenges; and helps children to build relationships and communicate ideas. 

Play – especially outdoor play and in playgrounds – also gives children the opportunity to develop risk awareness, and to build a healthy lifestyle that includes physical activity and time outdoors, building habits that can last into adulthood. The rise in car ownership – from 20 million cars and light vans in England in 1994 to 32 million today has denied the joy of previous generations playing with friends on their own streets without parked or moving cars. That healthy lifestyle is further supported by access to good quality leisure facilities – from swimming pools to sports pitches – and parks that give children and young people space to spend the time in nature that we know supports good mental health. 

Responding to the Children’s Commissioner’s “Big Ask”, children said they wanted access to open spaces, parks, places to swim and games to play, and they valued outside spaces to play in their local communities.

Childhood friendships are vital for later development, supporting good social skills and a way to explore identity and self-understanding, and protecting against isolation. Safe and accessible spaces for children to meet with friends, or to make new friends, support this, including dedicated youth facilities. Space at home for friends to visit also support this, and online spaces for children who may not be able to get to other spaces for example due to where they live, or illness or disability.

Where we are now

Access to leisure facilities and things to do

The national public sport and leisure sector provides affordable opportunities for nearly 9 million users annually to be active, and fourteen million swimmers a year would have nowhere else to swim without their local pool. 72 per cent of schools use public swimming pools to deliver their statutory responsibility for learning to swim and the water safety curriculum  and they are where the majority of young people learn to swim (typically 85 per cent). However, in the face of lost income due to facility closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, spiralling energy bills, the cost-of-living crisis, increases to the National Living Wage and an ageing public leisure estate, a ukactive survey in November 2022 found risks of closure or reduced services in three quarters of council areas by March 2024.

Funding pressures also saw the loss of more than 700 local authority owned or operated football pitches across the UK between 2010 and 2018, leading to an £8 million commitment from the Football Association to try to preserve and improve local pitches. Local authority funding for playgrounds has significantly declined, with the annual park budget in England falling by 14 per cent between 2009 and 2020.

Access to things to do in their local area was one of the most common issues raised by children in the Children’s Commissioner’s Big Ask. Among 9-17 year olds in particular, this was the second highest source of unhappiness. Children living in deprived areas were more likely to be unhappy with the choice of things to do in their local area than children living in more affluent areas. 4 out of 10 councils have more than a third of their children living further than a ten-minute walk from a playground, rising to two-thirds of children in some areas. On average, a single playground serves 376 children aged up to 9.  In more deprived areas, there is a higher density of children relying on a space to meet their needs leading to overcrowding and unfair access to recreational spaces.

Disabled children can find that they have fewer opportunities to access play and leisure facilities than their peers. The National Disability Strategy identifies that of those disabled people aged over 16 who experienced difficulty in accessing public buildings, 90 per cent said that this was in relation to culture, sport and leisure services; while this survey did not include children, we can recognise from its findings that there are significant accessibility challenges in the public estate. Access to short breaks for disabled children is also becoming more challenging as financial pressures on councils have led to cuts to services.

The ability for children to get to leisure facilities is also key. Active Travel England (ATE) announced a £60 million package of investment to support more children to walk or cycle to school, with those initiatives giving children more confidence and skills to travel independently. Active Lives data (academic year 2022/23) shows there are one million more children and young people travelling by active means than five years ago and an upward trend of walking and a large increase in gym and fitness activity driven by younger children (school Years 1-6, ages 5-11 and school Years 7-11, ages 11-16). As a result we are seeing 11.8 per cent or 908,000 more children and young people taking part in gym and fitness compared to five years ago. The Inclusive Transport Strategy and work commissioned by the LGA highlights challenges for disabled people, including children, for a range of reasons from a lack of accessible travel information, negative experiences with transport staff or other passengers, and poor infrastructure including pavement parking and cluttered pavements.

Outdoor space

Just over three quarters (76 per cent) of children surveyed by the National Trust said they wanted to spend more time in nature, but 63 per cent of parents said they could only take them once a week or less, citing accessibility as the main barrier.

More than a quarter of parents say that their children do not have a place to play near their home, with road safety and a lack of open spaces two key barriers to outdoor play. This is particularly important to consider for children living in homes without gardens, linking to the importance of good quality and well-planned housing and communities as outlined at Pillar Five.

School Streets and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) have been introduced in many areas to improve road safety, serving the same purpose as the introduction of barriers and bollards to block previously open roads that had been common in previous generations.  Department for Transport (DfT) research found that 20 per cent of parents living in an LTN think it makes their children more likely to play in the street.

Time with friends

The 2022-23 Active Lives Children and Young People Survey found that children with limiting disabilities or health conditions were almost four times more likely to report feeling lonely “often” or “always” than those without – 26.1 per cent compared to 6 per cent.

Young carers are also more likely to report challenges in spending as much time as they would like with their friends. The Carers Trust found that 40 per cent of young and young adult carers saying that caring ‘always’ or ‘usually’ affected how much time they could spend with their friends.

Youth services

Youth services has faced a real terms decline in funding of 73 per cent between 2010/11 and 2020/21 – with some local authority areas having cut funding entirely as funds have increasingly been directed towards urgent child protection services. More than 4,500 youth work jobs have been cut, alongside 760 youth centres since 2011.

Digital connectivity 

Digital connectivity varies significantly depending on factors including location and socio-economic status. Around 7 per cent of UK households do not have internet access at home, however this increases to 18 per cent of households in the lowest socio-economic bands. Urban areas are more likely to have access to broadband speeds that are capable of, for example, livestreaming Zoom calls. The challenge of unequal digital access became particularly apparent during the pandemic when schools closed to most children, with an Ofcom survey in early 2020 finding that 9 per cent of households with children did not have home access to a laptop, desktop PC or tablet.

Care leavers can be particularly affected by poor digital access, with challenges affording phone and broadband bills. In 2020, more than 35 charities and youth organisations signed an open letter calling for action to reduce the impact of digital poverty on their futures.

Where we want to be

Why it's important 

At a basic level, literacy skills including reading, writing and speaking in ways that enable effective communication and help people to navigate everyday life. Without those skills, learning, confidence and self-esteem are all affected. A good education, starting in the early years and building on those skills gives children a significantly better chance of good outcomes later on in life, with school attendance and/or educational attainment correlated with higher lifetime earnings, better health and less likelihood of engagement with the criminal justice system. 

Learning across a range of subjects helps children to develop their reasoning, collaboration, critical thinking and problem-solving skills – all of which are key to supporting independence and helping young people as they progress into further education, training and employment. And teaching in a way that sparks joy and interest in children can help them to become lifelong learners, giving young people the opportunity to keep growing throughout adulthood and respond to changes in the workplace, putting them on the path for fulfilling and rewarding careers as adults.

This is why formal learning needs to be flexible enough to respond to children’s individual needs, offering support and opportunities that enable each child to make the most of their talents and potential. And where children cannot be effectively supported in mainstream education, we need high quality alternatives like special schools and alternative provision so that no child falls through the gaps.

Wider opportunities for informal learning through culture can have a range of benefits, from supporting increasing calls for creativity in the labour market, to improving social mobility and mental health. They are also a great opportunity for children and young people to expand their knowledge and learn skills in a new way, and may be particularly helpful for children whose learning style is less suited to the formal classroom environment.

As young people approach adulthood, further education, skills and employment services can help them to prepare for and find work that they enjoy, that enables them to live the lives they want to. In the Children’s Commissioner’s Big Ask, nearly 7 in 10 9-17‑year‑olds (69 per cent) said that having a good job or career was one of their main priorities when they grow up – the most common answer for this age group. This was even higher among ethnic minority children and those from a deprived background.

Where are we now

Early education and childcare

The proportion of children reaching a good level of development at the Early Years Foundation Stage was 67.2 per cent in 2022/23, while the EYFS educational outcome gap between children on free school meals and their peers was 19.9 per cent in 2022/23. The proportion of children of Gypsy/Roma and travellers of Irish heritage reaching a good level of development is significantly lower than for other ethnic groups at 32.9 per cent. The number of children who take up their funded hours is 94 per cent for 3-4 year olds and 74 per cent for two-year olds.

Early education settings have raised concerns about recruitment and retention of staff, while there was a 31 per cent fall in the number of childminders between 2018 and 2023, from 36,500 to 25,300.

Funded entitlements for early education and childcare are currently expanding, with the expectation for all children of working parents from nine months to school age to be able to access 30 hours of funded childcare a week for 38 weeks a year by September 2025. While a welcome policy to address the high cost of childcare for many parents, there have been widespread concerns about the capacity of the early education and childcare sector to meet demand, particularly given long-term underfunding of entitlements. Concerns have also been raised about clarity over the aims of the entitlements, the process of signing up for and receiving the entitlements, tax-free childcare, the make-up and stewardship of the market, support for vulnerable or disadvantaged children and support for providers, as outlined in our Early education and childcare: Changes and challenges for the future report. 

Speech and Language

Speech and language impacts on children’s long-term outcomes. Where children have speech and language challenges, they are at increased risk of mental health problems, youth offending, poorer attainment in school and insecure employment as adults.

Teachers estimate that around one in five children are struggling with their talking and/or understanding of words, while more than half of teachers (53 per cent) believe that they don’t have enough training to support pupils’ speech and language in the classroom. Nearly three quarters of teachers (74 per cent) felt that the Covid-19 pandemic would lead to more children struggling.

Schools

Disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, including cancelled examinations and disrupted schooling, mean that caution must be exercised when comparing current pupil performance to pre-pandemic years. 45.3 per cent of pupils achieved grades 5 (equivalent to B/C, or a strong pass) or above in English and mathematics GCSEs in 2023. Asian children are the most likely to achieve this (58.4 per cent) while white children are least likely to (43.1 per cent). The Key Stage 4 disadvantage gap index has widened to its highest level since 2011. Areas with the highest pupil attainment tend to be concentrated in London and the South, while those with the lowest pupil attainment averages are in the Northern and Midland region.

16.4 per cent of adults in England, or 7.1 million people, have ‘very poor literacy skills’, struggling with reading from unfamiliar sources or on unfamiliar topics.

Department for Education (DfE) statistics show that there is an increasing trend of children and young people missing out on access to mainstream schools as a result of permanent exclusion and suspension. The highest suspension rate is in the North East at 4.65 per 10,000 pupils compared to 1.47 in Outer London. Exclusion and suspension rates are higher for boys, children eligible for free school meals and Gypsy/Roma children.

Home education

An estimated 92,000 children were electively home educated on the census date in autumn 2023, an increase from an estimated 80,900 the previous autumn. 

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities 

Children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) have seen performance flatline, or decline, across key educational milestones over the past decade. At the end of primary school in 2022/23, only 8 per cent of children and young people with EHCPs achieved the expected level in reading, writing and mathematics – exactly the same percentage who achieved that level in 2016/17. At the other end of the age spectrum, only 30 per cent of young people with EHCPs achieved Level 2 by age 19 compared with nearly 37 per cent who achieved this level in 2014/15. 

Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and high needs funding pressures are one of the biggest challenges that councils with education responsibilities are currently facing. This is the result of an ever-increasing need for SEND support and the growing number of children and young people who have an EHCP. Department for Education (DfE) statistics show that January 2024 there were 576,000 children with an EHCP, an increase of 11.4 per cent on 2023. The number of EHCPs has increased every year since they were introduced in 2014. 

Costs of home-to-school transport are escalating for children with SEND, driven by ongoing growth in the number of children with EHCPs. Budgeted net spend in 2023/24 is £1.4 billion, a 95 per cent cash terms increase since 2016/17.

Despite increased national funding to reflect the growth in EHCPs and specialist provision, this has not kept pace with the growth in expenditure. Government funding, in the form of high needs block allocations to councils, has risen from £5.3 billion in 2014-15 to £9.4 billion in 2024-25. Our analysis suggests that high needs spending by councils exceeded high needs block allocations by £890 million in 2023-24, and could rise to £1.1 billion and £1.3 billion over the next two years.

We estimate that the cumulative high needs deficit has risen from £300 million in 2018-19 to £3.16 billion currently. Without additional investment through, for example, the Safety Valve programme, the cumulative national deficit would be closer to £4 billion. This is money that has already been spent, and, through what is called the “statutory override”, is ring-fenced as council debts. The scale of the debt is so great that half of councils responding to our survey said that, if the statutory override was removed, they would be insolvent within a year (25 per cent) or within three years (25 per cent). LA high needs funding is at the epicentre of the crisis, and can be easily measured, but our research suggests that education settings and health services are experiencing similar financial pressures.

Alternative Provision

In 2023/24 there were 15,900 children in state-funded alternative provision, an increase of 20 per cent on the previous year and similar to pre-pandemic levels. This represents 0.17 per cent of all pupils. Most of these pupils (67.4 per cent) are boys, they are more likely to be White British than in other schools, and 60.7 per cent are eligible for free school meals, compared to 24.6 per cent for the overall school population.  

The SEND and Alternative Provision green paper in 2022 identified that Key Stage 4 outcomes for young people in alternative provision are poor and only 55 per cent sustain their post-16 destination after 6 months. 

Culture

Cultural services are still important to communities, but they are facing significant challenges. Increasing pressure on public spending and rising demand for statutory services like social care, meant that council’s net spend on culture and heritage decreased by 35.5 per cent between 2009/10 and 2019/20, while spend on libraries decreased by 43.5 per cent.

The pandemic and subsequent cost of living crisis has only served to exacerbate these pressures. The pandemic saw a sharp drop in income generation by cultural services and organisations across the board. The UK’s arts and entertainments sector was one of the worst hit parts in the pandemic, according to the Office for National Statistics. While for many the Culture Recovery Fund and wider support packages for councils plugged immediate gaps and income projections were beginning to recover, rising inflation and the cost of living has continued to undermine the financial resilience of the cultural sector.

Art Fund research in 2023 found only 52 per cent of lower socio-economic status pupils have visited a museum in the past year, compared to 70 per cent of those growing up with higher socio-economic status. Young people from this socio-economic group were also less likely to be taken by their school, with significant regional inequalities. These gaps have widened since Covid, with further Art Fund research finding that a third (36 per cent) of teachers across the country are taking pupils to museums less than before the pandemic. This increased to 40 per cent of teachers in the Midlands and North West, compared to 31 per cent in London.

Further education and skills

At the end of March 2024, an estimated 13.9 per cent (506,000) of young men aged 16-24 years in the UK, and 11.3 per cent (394,000) of young women, were not in education, employment or training (NEET).

Youth Futures research reveals two groups of young people facing multiple types of marginalisation that are associated with a substantial increase in becoming NEET:  young people with SEND and no academic qualification above Level One; and young people who have a limiting disability and poor mental health. It identified 19 individual risk factors, including having engaged in anti-social behaviour and having been in care. It also demonstrates that as the number of risk factors a young person experiences rises, their likelihood of being NEET also increases substantially. EDSK - Finding a NEET solution research demonstrates that young people who are NEET longer than six months before 21 years of age are more likely to be unemployed, low-paid, have no training or a criminal record, and suffer from poor mental health.

In England, £20 billion is spent on at least 49 nationally contracted or delivered employment and skills related schemes or services managed by multiple Whitehall departments and agencies, delivered over different boundaries by various providers. No single organisation is responsible for coordinating this locally, making it difficult to target and join up provision for learners, unemployed people, career changers and businesses.

At the same time as digital and green jobs offer new opportunities, the nation lacks the right mix of skills to meet future demand. Skills gap predictions for the LGA revealed that by 2030, there would be an oversupply of three million people with low and intermediate qualifications and 2.5 million too few higher skilled workers compared to jobs generated. These gaps were starker within places than between them, emphasising that ‘place’ really does need to be factored in when designing and targeting provision, as our analysis of the current challenges and opportunities in the labour market shows.

Where we want to be

Why it's important

No child should live in fear of abuse of any kind, and no child should face the risk of, or actual, harm. This basic right is enshrined in English law under the Children Act 1989. Furthermore, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is clear that governments must do all they can to ensure that children are protected from all forms of violence, abuse and neglect by their parents or anyone else who looks after them (article 19). They should also be protected from all forms of exploitation (articles 32-36).

Children and young people need to feel safe in order to thrive. Psychological safety is a key aspect of positive human development, allowing children to take interpersonal risks that can help them to engage, connect, change and learn without fear of shame or ridicule.

Studies have found that where children live in circumstances that persistently elicit fear, this is a predictor of significant risk for adverse long-term consequences for learning, behaviour and health (source). The long-term impacts of abuse and neglect are well documented, and include mental health problems, drug or alcohol issues, criminal behaviour, re-victimisation and impacts on health, relationships and education (source; source).

Safe neighbourhoods allow children to go outside to play and meet with friends, while supporting growing independence as they are allowed to explore further afield as they get older.

Where we are now

It is important to recognise that the UK is one of the safest countries in the world to grow up, and that is in no small part due to the dedication of thousands of professionals across children’s services, the police, schools, health and the voluntary and community sector. A 2017 report by the Early Intervention Foundation for the NSPCC, “Bringing the Global to the Local” found that:

• The UK has one of the lowest rates of children dying from intentional injuries, negligence, maltreatment or physical assault in Europe.
• Self-reported prevalence of child maltreatment and harm in the UK is lower than in the US.
• England has more referrals related to neglect than Australia and Canada, but far fewer than the US.

While we can never completely eradicate harms to children, striving to continually improve children’s safety is a core ambition of councils and their partners. There are also new threats emerging all the time, including the rapidly rising number of children experiencing online sexual harm, requiring all those working to protect children to adapt quickly to keep children safe.

In 2022, 98 per cent of children in foster care and 93 per cent of those in children’s homes told Ofsted they felt safe where they lived “always or most of the time”.

Tackling abuse, neglect and exploitation

Official statistics outline the prevalence of the following factors at the end of assessments carried out in 2023/24 (where factors were identified; more than one factor can be recorded for each assessment): 

These statistics clearly only refer to those cases where children’s services are involved, and as such will be an underestimate of the total current prevalence of abuse against children. The Crime Survey for England and Wales measures the prevalence of adults who experience abuse before the age of 16. While this does not include all children (as it excludes those aged 16 and 17) it can help us to understand the prevalence of abuse. In the year ending March 2019, the CSEW estimated that approximately 20.7 per cent of the population aged 18-74 years – around one in four women and one in six men - had experienced some form of abuse before they were 16. Women were more likely to have experienced all types of abuse than men other than physical abuse, where there was no difference.

The National Referral Mechanism is currently the best source of information on the number of potential victims of modern slavery, which includes human trafficking and exploitation. Data for the NRM for the year ending December 2021 shows an increase of 9 per cent in the number of potential child victims referred compared with the previous year, with more than 9 in ten of those receiving a positive reasonable grounds decision (RGDs), meaning they were assessed as reasonably likely to be victims. Almost four-fifths of positive RGDs were for boys, who were most likely to have been criminally exploited (62 per cent). Girls were most likely to have been sexually exploited (42 per cent).

Domestic abuse

Concerns about domestic violence in which a parent is the victim remains one of the most common factors identified at the end of an assessment by children’s social care, with this being present in 160,600 assessments (31.7 per cent of assessments with factors identified) in 2023/24. Children were identified as victims of domestic abuse in 55,040 assessments (10.9 per cent) in the same year. 

Youth justice

A concerted effort by Youth Offending Services, including councils and police, has led to a significant fall in the number of young people entering the youth justice system or being cautioned or sentenced. There was a 72 per cent fall in the number of first time entrants to the youth justice system, and in children receiving cautions or sentences, between 2013 and 2023. The number of children in custody fell by 71 per cent in that time to an average of 440 children in custody at any one time in the year to March 2023, the lowest number on record. 

However, for those children in custody there are still very high rates of self-harm and assaults (380 incidents each per 100 children). 44 per cent of those young people in custody are on remand, with almost two thirds of those children ultimately receiving a non-custodial outcome. 61 per cent of those remanded in youth custody are boys (98 per cent) or from an ethnic minority group (61 per cent). 

While the number of proven offences committed by children has fallen for all types of offence compared with ten years ago, the proportions of types of offence has changed. Violence against the person offences have seen the largest increase in proportion, from 21 per cent of proven offences in the year ending March 2013 to 24 per cent by March 2023. Theft and handling stolen goods have seen the largest proportional decrease, down from 19 per cent to 8 per cent of proven offences.

Ethnic disproportionality is a significant challenge within the youth justice system. An evidence review for the Youth Justice Board in 2021 found that “disproportionality in remand outcomes for Black children appears to contribute to their disproportionate likelihood of receiving custodial sentences. Differences in practitioner assessments of Black children, also appear to contribute to their harsher outcomes. The extent of disproportionality for Black children could not be fully explained by the available variables.”

Community safety

Children told the Children’s Commissioner’s “Big Ask” that they wanted to feel safe outside their homes, and that they were particularly worried about violence against women, girls, the vulnerable and minority groups. Girls in particular were worried about their personal safety. This is not to say that all children felt unsafe – 80 per cent of 9–17-year-olds were happy with their personal safety, with only 4 per cent saying they were unhappy. However, children living in neighbourhoods with the highest levels of crime or deprivation were more likely to be concerned for their personal safety, while older teenagers also had more concerns.

A 2017 global comparison for the NSPCC found that England had the second highest prevalence of hate crime among 12-16 year olds of 16 countries with comparable data. 

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health highlights that while globally, road traffic accidents are a leading cause of death and serious injury among young people, rates in the UK have fallen and are much lower than comparable Western countries. The risk of road traffic injuries is higher for young people living in deprived areas.

Safety in schools

School should be a safe place for children but as the Everyone’s Invited movement and subsequent Ofsted investigation showed, for many children – girls in particular – sexual abuse and harassment are commonplace. This includes sexist name-calling and the sending of unsolicited explicit sexual material.

Research for the Department for Education in 2018 found that almost a third of year 11 students reported having been bullied in the last year, with name calling and social exclusion the most common types. Female students were significantly more likely to be bullied than male students (35 per cent compared to 26 per cent), though male students were more likely to report threats of, or actual, violence. Young people with disabilities or special educational needs were also more likely to report being bullied than their peers.

The Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Report 2022 highlights that children in the UK have the greatest fear of failure of children across 24 European countries, suggesting low levels of psychological safety. The report does, however, also highlight that children were broadly happy with how safe they felt in school, with an average score of 7.9 out of 10. 

Online safety

A report by the Children’s Commissioner for England in 2022 found that:

• 45 per cent of children aged 8-17 have seen content online that they felt was inappropriate or made them worried or upset. This was more common amongst boys and children with Free School Meal status.
• 67 per cent of parents were concerned about the nature of content their children were exposed to online (74 per cent for parents of 8-9 year olds).
• The most common harm reported by children was anonymous trolling, followed by sexualised images and violent or gory content.

A further report by the Commissioner a year later discussed the need to protect children from the harms of online pornography. 79 per cent of children in the Commissioner’s research had encountered violent pornography before the age of 18, while 50 per cent of children had seen pornography by the age of 13. Most young people agreed that viewing online pornography affected young people’s behaviours towards one another, with some noting the risks around it informing real-life sexual aggression and coercion.

In 2019, the Science and Technology Committee reported that 70 per cent of 12–15-year-olds had a profile on social media but noted that there was not yet a well-established body of research examining the effects of social media on children. It did also note several reports that children experiencing mental health problems were more likely to spend longer on social media – however it was unclear what the direction of the relationship was, for example whether someone already experiencing a mental health problem was then more likely to use social media or the other way around. The Committee was clear however that “the absence of good academic evidence is not, in itself, evidence that social media and screens have no effect on young people”, and emphasised that the links between social media and health was an area of concern for parents, carers, teachers and children alike. Concerns around the impact of social media and online content on children’s wellbeing continue to be significant, with the Children’s Commissioner for England stating in 2022 “I am simply not satisfied that enough is being done to keep children safe online”, while Josh MacAlister MP, who wrote the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, introduced a private members’ bill in October 2024 to make provision for the protection of children accessing digital services and content.

Child sexual abuse

The Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse highlights that in 2022/23, child protection plans for sexual abuse were at the lowest levels in 14 years, with 2,290 children supported through such plans. Furthermore, sexual abuse made up the lowest proportion of new child protection plans since records began; just 3.6 per cent in 2022/23, in comparison with 23 per cent in 1993/4. This is despite surveys indicating that children are just as likely to experience sexual abuse as other forms of abuse, such as emotional or physical abuse.

Where we want to be

Why it’s important

Children’s health is shaped by a variety of factors, known as the wider determinants of health. Family income, poverty, housing, access to healthy food, the environment in which they grow up, and a whole range of other factors fundamentally shape children's health outcomes.

In his landmark review in 2010, Professor Sir Michael Marmot outlines a clear rationale for ensuring that children have the best start in life “Giving every child the best start in life is crucial to reducing health inequalities across the life course. The foundations for virtually every aspect of human development – physical, intellectual and emotional – are laid in early childhood.” 

Health inequalities not only have social costs, but economic impacts too – when the Marmot review was published in 2010 it was “estimated that inequality in illness accounts for productivity losses of £31-33 billion per year, lost taxes and higher welfare payments in the range of £20-32 billion per year, and additional NHS healthcare costs associated with inequality are well in excess of £5.5 billion per year.”

Preventative services, such as health visiting and school nursing, can make a critical difference here. For example, health visitors play a crucial role in identifying issues early, determining potential risks, and providing early intervention to prevent issues escalating before they reach crisis point. 

Good mental health supports children to enjoy their lives and take advantage of opportunities available to them, including education and hobbies. It also makes children more resilient, supporting them to handle inevitable anxieties and stresses as they grow up and continue to thrive.

Health Equals, a coalition of organisations dedicated to equal opportunity for health and wellbeing for everyone, is calling for a “Bill of Health”, asking all government departments to work together to prioritise what makes us healthy – including good quality homes, stable jobs, social connections and neighbourhoods with green spaces and clean air. They highlight that disparities in these things can lead to significant differences in life expectancy, while government data highlights that improvements in self-reported good health at a younger age have a bigger impact on healthy life expectancy (the average number of years a person would expect to live in good health) than improvements at an older age.

The condition of a child’s home can have a significant impact on their heath and development. Poor quality housing can lead to increased numbers of injuries, with accidents including injuries currently one of the top three causes of death in children ages 1-9. Children living in bad housing are twice as likely to suffer from poor health than those living in good homes, for example with cold homes affecting infants’ hospital admission rates and development, and adolescents’ mental health. Children living in cold homes may find it more difficult to sleep, leaving them more tired and unable to engage well in school.

The British Nutrition Foundation notes the importance of children having a balanced, varied diet to ensure they get all of the nutrients and energy their bodies need to grow.  Food insecurity facing children has been on the rise in recent years; this is not only about not having enough food but not having food that is nutritious, that meets dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Experiencing food insecurity as a child has long-term consequences. Lack of nutrition (either quantity or quality) during critical periods in early life may cause irreversible changes to a child’s development, and therefore increase the risk of chronic disease in later life. Children who are hungry at school will also struggle to learn and concentrate.

A healthy life includes a healthy planet – as Health Equals highlight, green spaces and clean air are vital to good health, but we also know that for many children, the environment is one of their main worries about the future. 

Children with disabilities and/or chronic health conditions can face additional barriers to thriving in all areas of their lives and making a positive transition to adulthood. These barriers can lead to poorer outcomes in the long-term, for example disabled people report lower life satisfaction than non-disabled people in the same age group and are less likely to be employed. Ensuring that disabled children and those with chronic health conditions have access to the care and support that they need to gain a good education, build friendships, take part in hobbies and do all the things that their peers may take for granted is key to setting them up for long-term success.

The Marmot review also highlighted the link between health and financial circumstances, while the ten year follow up review in 2020 noted increasing health inequalities, with marked regional differences in life expectancy particularly amongst people living in more deprived areas. The Child Poverty Action Group builds on this impact of poverty for children, noting not only harms for health, social and emotional wellbeing, but educational impacts and missing out on fun and activities. Furthermore, the link between poverty, deprivation and involvement in the child protection system is now well established.

Where we are now

Good housing

Over recent decades, construction of new homes has failed to keep pace with population growth, demographics and socio-demographic change, particularly due to the decline in public house building. At the same time, the stock of social homes has significantly reduced as councils have struggled to replace homes lost through Right to Buy. The housing shortage has seen rents and property prices rise significantly faster than incomes, acutely impacting the lowest income and vulnerable families and individuals.

Nearly 1.32 million households are on the waiting list for social homes in England. More than 112,000 households are living in temporary accommodation, including 145,800 children while the National Housing Federation found that more than two million children are living in overcrowded homes. Councils spent £1.74 billion on temporary accommodation in 2022-23 alone (source). Social workers have noted challenges with space restricting children’s physical development, for example having to learn to walk on a bed or missing key developmental milestones like crawling due to a lack of space. Research by University College London found that living in temporary housing hindered play for a number of reasons, including a lack of physical space, mental health issues, and visitor policies that do not allow children to invite friends over to play. Researchers noted that this could have immediate and lasting consequences on children’s physical development and mental health. Temporary accommodation, particularly in hotels, can lack refrigeration and cooking facilities, making it more difficult to feed children healthily.

More than 112,000 households are living in temporary accommodation, including 145,800 children while the National Housing Federation found that more than two million children are living in overcrowded homes. Councils spent £1.74 billion on temporary accommodation in 2022-23 alone (source). Social workers have noted challenges with space restricting children’s physical development, for example having to learn to walk on a bed or missing key developmental milestones like crawling due to a lack of space. Research by University College London found that living in temporary housing hindered play for a number of reasons, including a lack of physical space, mental health issues, and visitor policies that do not allow children to invite friends over to play. Researchers noted that this could have immediate and lasting consequences on children’s physical development and mental health. Temporary accommodation, particularly in hotels, can lack refrigeration and cooking facilities, making it more difficult to feed children healthily.

One in six children in England live in cramped conditions with no personal space, and more than 310,000 children are forced to share beds with other family members due to overcrowding. Parents in more than one million families in 2023 had to give up their own bed so that children had somewhere to sleep while over a fifth of children live in damp homes.

Physical health 

Child health outcomes nationally are declining; a key report published by the Academy of Medical Sciences in February 2024 found that: 

• The prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing amongst children 
• Breastfeeding rates are amongst the lowest of comparable high-income countries
• The majority of childhood vaccination rates have fallen below the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended levels

An independent investigation of the NHS in England (“the Darzi report”) found that between 2001 and 2018, there was a 250 per cent increase in the prevalence of life-limiting and life-threatening conditions in children and young people, potentially reflecting an increase in survival in this population as well as an increase in recording of diagnosis. The number of children with eight or more chronic conditions nearly doubled to 14 per cent between 2012-13 and 2018-19. The same report found that children and young people are 24 per cent of the population and account for 11 per cent of NHS expenditure. 

More than one in ten children in the UK is in food poverty, defined as where households cannot, or are uncertain about whether they can, acquire “an adequate quality or sufficient quantity of food in socially acceptable ways.” In 2021/22,6 per cent of children had received food from a food bank. Some groups in society are more likely to experience food insecurity and need to use food banks, including disabled people, people with caring responsibilities and children.  Nearly a quarter of pupils (23.8 per cent, or over 2 million pupils) in England are eligible for free school meals.

Access to food that is healthy, nutritious and affordable is a huge challenge for families in our most disadvantaged communities, particularly amidst the ongoing rise in the cost-of-living crisis. Figures from the Food Foundation show that for households in the bottom 10 per cent of household income to follow healthy eating guidance, they would have to spend 74 per cent of their income on food. This demonstrates that for families within this bracket, it is not ignorance or an inability to cook that is the fundamental cause of poor nutrition; it is poverty.

Tooth decay is the most common reason for hospital admissions in children aged 6-10 years old, with rates of admission nearly 3.5 times higher for children living in the most deprived communities compared to the most affluent. 

The recent deterioration of child health and wellbeing is being exacerbated by recent crises related to rising living costs and the COVID-19 pandemic. Those living in the most deprived areas have been the hardest hit, deepening health inequalities that can last a lifetime and are often passed down to future generations. 

Mental health

At least one in six children and young people aged 7 to 16 years have a probable mental health disorder. This increases to one in four for young people aged 17 to 19 years. Boys aged seven to 10 years were more likely to have a probable mental disorder than girls (nearly double) but in 17- to 23-year-olds, this pattern was reversed, with rates higher in young women than young men. There is a less significant difference in 11–16-year-olds. Children from the most deprived 20 per cent of households are four times as likely to have serious mental health difficulties by the age of 11 as those from the wealthiest 20 per cent.

The rate of hospital admission due to self-harm for children aged 10-14 more than doubled from 124 per 100,000 population in 2011/12 to 307 in 2021/22. There has been an 82 per cent increase in hospital admissions for eating disorders since 2019/20.There are increasing numbers of Deprivation of Liberty applications applied to children, with a 462 per cent rise in DoL orders in the three years to 2021/21. These children have multiple and complex needs and there are concerns about their mental health in 60 per cent of cases.

The number and proportion of children who die by suicide has been increasing in recent years, with every death an enormous tragedy. In 2016, 2 children aged 10-14 died by suicide; this had increased to 14 in 2021. There were equally increases in the older age group 15 to 19, with an increase from 143 young people (4.5 per 100,000) in 2016 to 198 young people (6.2 per 100,000) in 2021 .

There was a 20 per cent (325) decline in the number of inpatient mental healthcare beds for teenagers between 2017 and 2022 despite an increasing need for treatment. 

The average waiting time for children and young people to access mental health services ranges from four to 147 days. Lord Darzi’s independent investigation of the NHS in England found that as of June 2024, 109,000 children and young people under the age of 18 had been waiting more than a year for first contact with mental health services. The rate of mental health referrals for children and young people increased by 11.7 per cent a year from around 40,000 a month in 2016 to almost 120,000 a month in 2024; the increase for adults was 3.3 per cent a year.

Perinatal health

The prenatal period has a significant impact on physical, mental and cognitive function. There is evidence that, compared with term births, extreme prematurity and premature birth is associated with a higher risk of mental disorders and other adverse outcomes such as inattention, socio-communicative problems and emotional difficulties across the life course.

In general, studies examining maternal depression or anxiety during pregnancy and other indices of gestational stress have shown significant associations with low birth weight and emotional problems in children​. 

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health advises that smoking during pregnancy is a leading factor in poor birth outcomes, including stillbirth and infant (especially neonatal) deaths. Stopping smoking before or during pregnancy will reduce these risks to the child's health and development. Drinking alcohol during pregnancy also increases the risk of miscarriage, premature birth and babies being born at a low birthweight. 

The Institute for Health Visiting advises that around one in four women and one in ten men experience perinatal mental health problems. This can lead to increased risk or poorer outcomes for children, including in relation to their cognitive, social and emotional development, as well as impacts on the parent-infant relationship.

There are significant disparities in maternal mortality rates, which are 1.65 times higher for women from Asian backgrounds, and 2.87 times higher for Black women, compared to White women.

Disability support

The 2021 census of England found that 6 per cent of children aged 0-14 were limited in a little or a lot of their day-to-day activities by long-term physical or mental health conditions or illnesses, while in 2021/22, 16.6 per cent of children and young people had an Education, Health and Care Plan or were receiving SEN support in school.

The Children’s Commissioner found that children with SEND were less likely to feel safe than their peers and were more likely to often or always feel lonely. The Children’s Commissioner’s ‘Disabled Children’s Vision for Change’ identified a number of barriers faced by disabled children, including inaccessible activities, bullying, disruptive transitions between services and exclusion from mainstream education.

Around 300,000 children in England have a learning disability. People with a learning disability are underserved in access to healthcare and experience high levels of health inequality. Growing into adulthood, many people with a learning disability will have considerable, and often multiple, physical and mental health conditions. Research from NICE has shown that, compared with the general population, people with a learning disability were 3 to 4 times as likely to die from an avoidable medical cause of death, including timely and effective access to treatment. 

Climate change

Responding to the Children’s Commissioner’s “Big Ask”, children reported a deep concern about the environment with nearly one in four (39 per cent) of children aged 9-17 saying that the environment was one of their main worries about the future. As highlighted in “The Big Answer”, children “spoke of concern for animals, and the impact of waste created by humans on habitats around the world. Very simply, many felt the same as this 12 year old: ‘If we don’t fix climate change, we won’t have a future’, or this 15 year old: ‘the effects of it may be irreversible, and it is very daunting for young people to have the responsibility of dealing with its effects.” 

Poverty and welfare

Almost one in three children in the UK are living in poverty, with three quarters of them living in working families. Key factors driving this include low wage rises, high childcare costs and ‘soaring’ private rents.

Families with children, families where someone is unable to work due to illness or disability, and Black households are more likely to experience deductions to their Universal Credit. This adds to research showing that significant reductions in welfare spending through the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 disproportionately impacted on lone parents, large families and families with a disabled parent or child.

Where we want to be