Anne Longfield

Anne Elizabeth Longfield OBE (born 1960) is the Children's Commissioner for England.[1] She was formerly chief executive of the charity 4Children.

Anne Longfield
Children's Commissioner for England
Assumed office
2015
Preceded byMaggie Atkinson
Personal details
Born1960
NationalityUnited Kingdom

She was appointed the Children's Commissioner for England in March 2015. The role aims to bring about long term change and improvements for children, and in particular the most vulnerable, with a special focus on those in care.

She has powers of data collection under section 2f of The Children's Act (2014) as well as powers of inspection over any institution where children may be housed. These powers were added to the office from the original 2004 act which established the Children's Commissioner's role. The Commissioner is independent of Government, children’s agencies, the voluntary and private sector.

She describes the role as “being the eyes and ears of children within the system[2]”, and sees her remit to “shine a light” on areas where the system fails, or inadequately supports children and to speak up on behalf of them, without fear or favour.

She has special responsibility for the 78,000 children[3] in England who are looked after by the state or described as “in care” in some form.

Prior to her appointment as Children’s Commissioner, Anne was Chief Executive of a leading national children’s charity, 4 Children which delivered early years support, school support and youth services. Whilst there she oversaw the huge and rapid expansion of the charity and left just before its financial collapse.

Over her time in office the Commissioner has worked on issues affecting children’s mental health, put forward proposals for giving children more power over their digital lives, published research on the experience of children in care, and launched a long term study and data index on vulnerable children invisible to the state.[4] Under these main areas of research she has made many public interventions, and published a large number of detailed reports exploring, explaining and advocating various solutions to specific aspects of these subjects. She has seen a number of them put into place by Government.

Longfield has made many appearances in print and on broadcast media, and has made representations to local and national Government. She has created a digital platform for Children in Care, IMO. Her helpline “Help at Hand[5]”, which aims to address problems raised by children in care, helps around a thousand children a year.

In 2020 her office responded to the coronavirus pandemic by producing materials to explain the virus and lockdown to children and highlighting the impact of the crisis on children - especially vulnerable children.  She campaigned since May 2020 for all schools to be open in September, saying that, in any further restrictions to curb the spread of Covid19, schools should be “last to close and first to re-open[6]".

Views

Longfield is concerned about what she sees as the effect of benefit cuts on vulnerable children in low income families. Longfield stated that universal credit and wider welfare reforms disproportionately affect single parents. Longfield stated, “There is a great risk here that the government looks like it’s going back to an outdated… viewpoint which is demonising both single parents but also families claiming benefit, and working mothers.”[7]

She has argued for large digital platforms that are used by children to have greater responsibility and response to complaints from child users and has called for legislation in England to tackle perceived reluctance on such platforms to do so.[8]

She has stated that waiting times and coverage of children’s mental health services are too long, and insufficient for need.[9]

She has called for review and overhaul of children's services across England and a much more “joined up approach[10]” to providing services that prevent the need for greater intervention at a later stage in a child’s life.

She believes there should be a register of children home schooled in England.[11]

She has called for greater co-ordination of police, the justice system, NHSE and children’s services to tackle gang involvement, violent knife crime and the distribution of illegal drugs known as “county lines”. She has said “No child should ever end up as a headline about gangland murder or organized exploitation simply because nobody in the system thought it was their job to keep them safe[12].”

Criticism

In 2015, shortly after starting her new role as children's Commissioner, Longfield was criticised for removing her Deputy, Sue Berelowitz, with an enhanced severance package, and then immediately hiring her back as a consultant. It transpired that this had taken place without securing the required approval from government ministers and was therefore an abuse of her powers. The arrangement was subsequently cancelled as a result of media attention and the organisation ordered to repay to HM Treasury £10,000 of misused public funds.[13]

Personal life

Anne lives in Yorkshire and is married with a son. She is a former student of Prince Henry's Grammar School, Otley.[14]

References
  1. The Children’s Commissioner for England is Anne Longfield OBE. Children’s Commissioner for England. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  2. "About the Children's Commissioner for England". Children's Commissioner for England. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  3. "Children looked after in England including adoption: 2018 to 2019". GOV.UK. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  4. "Our work". Children's Commissioner for England. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  5. "Help at Hand". Children's Commissioner for England. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  6. "Longfield: Prioritise education in future lockdowns". Schools Week. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  7. Conservative party risk ‘demonising’ single parents with benefits cuts, warns children’s commissioner The Independent
  8. Sellgren, Katherine (30 January 2019). "Social media companies 'failing children'". BBC News. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  9. "Comprehensive mental health service for children still a long way off". www.mind.org.uk. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  10. correspondent, Sally Weale Education (30 January 2020). "England 'decade away' from decent children mental health services". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  11. "Children's Commissioner for England calls for a compulsory register of "off the grid" children". Children's Commissioner for England. 4 February 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  12. "Gangs and Criminal Exploitation: Policy context". CYP Now. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  13. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11645002/Child-safety-chief-stripped-of-lucrative-consultancy-contract.html
  14. Longfield, Anne (17 November 2017). "Absolute pleasure to spend time at my old school @PrinceHenrysGS talking about soc media, wellbeing, mental health #impressive @jg_ccpresspic.twitter.com/GI6Xez8F2Z". @annelongfield. Retrieved 18 November 2017.


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