REPORT NAMES MIDDLESBROUGH AMONG HARDEST PLACES FOR CHILDREN

The Children’s Commissioner has identified Middlesbrough, Hounslow and Bradford as the most challenging places in England for children to grow up, according to the Childhood Lottery report. The assessment also lists Nottingham, Halton, Peterborough, Leicester, Liverpool, Sunderland and Medway among the ten most challenging areas. It identifies Cheshire East, Merton and Surrey as the least challenging. Dame Rachel de Souza, England’s Children’s Commissioner, is expected to warn of a “state of emergency” in some communities when she presents the findings.

The assessment covers every local authority in England and draws on more than 160 measures of the challenges children face. It assigns each area an overall score and builds its rankings from nearly 100 metrics. Those metrics cover access to health and social care, education and housing, safety, opportunities to play and whether children have a voice in local decisions. The Children’s Commissioner also provides a new dataset and interactive map. Richmond upon Thames, Hertfordshire, Cheshire West and Chester, Haringey, Leicestershire, Central Bedfordshire and Wokingham complete the report’s list of the least challenging areas.

The report concludes that “the postcode lottery is real”, citing differences in children’s experiences across local authorities. De Souza is expected to urge the government to ensure that where children live does not determine their outcomes and life chances. She will say that “every single local area in England has work to do to make lives better for their children.” Her planned speech describes the challenges in some communities as “nothing less than a state of emergency” and says children in many areas are “being radically failed”.