Children’s Commissioner names England’s hardest places to grow up in new Childhood Lottery

The 162-measure study exposes major differences in school attendance, GCSE attainment and SEND support, prompting calls for a national Children’s Emergency Fund

The Children's Commissioner's Childhood Lottery brings together 162 measures to examine differences in children's experiences across England

Middlesbrough has been identified as the most challenging place to grow up in England in a new assessment published by the Children’s Commissioner, with Hounslow and Bradford completing the three lowest-scoring areas. The findings reveal substantial geographical differences in children’s access to education, health services and wider support, including significant gaps in school attendance, educational outcomes and special educational needs provision.

Published on 19 October 2026, The Childhood Lottery brings together 162 measures covering children's experiences across England. The dataset draws on research from the Children's Commissioner's office, the Department for Education and 10 other public bodies, bringing information previously examined separately into a single assessment of childhood at local authority level.

Nottingham, Halton, Peterborough, Leicester, Liverpool, Sunderland and Medway complete the 10 lowest-scoring areas. At the other end of the rankings, Cheshire East, Merton and Surrey record the highest overall scores.

The assessment uses 96 scored measures to calculate the overall rankings, covering education, family circumstances, health, care, community and children's opportunities to participate in society. The Commissioner emphasizes that these are not performance rankings of individual councils, as they include factors beyond local authority control.

Education postcode lottery reveals gaps in attendance, SEND and attainment

Among the most pronounced differences is the proportion of children known to be missing from education.

In Blackpool, 8.3% of children are recorded as missing education, compared with just 0.03% in Lambeth. The report identifies this as one of the most geographically variable measures, although the Commissioner's previous research has also identified inconsistencies in how local authorities record children missing education.

Support for students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) shows further variation.

Across local authority areas, an average of just 55% of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) were completed within the required 20-week timeframe. Derbyshire and Devon reported completion rates of only 5%, while Barnet, Bracknell Forest, Wandsworth and Windsor and Maidenhead each recorded 100%.

The report cautions that completing an EHCP on time does not establish whether the plan is of sufficient quality, whether the specified support has been delivered or whether it has worked.

Differences continue through secondary education. The proportion of students achieving grade 5 or above in both English and mathematics GCSEs ranges from 70% in Richmond upon Thames to 31% in Knowsley.

School exclusions and unauthorized absence also vary considerably. Blackpool recorded 46 exclusions per 10,000 children, compared with one per 10,000 in Wiltshire, while unauthorized absence in mainstream schools ranged from 1.2% in Trafford to 4.5% in Knowsley.

Access to education beyond age 16 is similarly uneven. The report identifies 2.2 post-16 education settings per 1,000 children in Sutton, compared with 0.1 in Portsmouth. Across the 10% of areas with the greatest access to post-16 provision, 2.6% of 16- and 17-year-olds were not in education, employment or training (NEET), compared with 4.8% in the 10% of areas with the lowest provision.

Mental health support varies sharply between local areas

The findings extend beyond education, identifying differences in children's access to mental health services, healthcare, housing and opportunities within their communities.

More than one million children, 1,048,965, had active referrals to children and young people's mental health services during 2024-25.

Access to Mental Health Support Teams, which provide early intervention in eligible education settings, also differs substantially between local authorities. In Leicestershire, coverage stands at 24%, compared with 99% in South Tyneside.

Meanwhile, the median waiting time from referral to second contact with children's mental health services ranges from six days in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland to 118 days in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

The Commissioner also identifies gaps in the national evidence available to policymakers, including the absence of routine data on how many children visit their GP, the size of the youth workforce and the number of children with a probable mental health condition.

In her foreword, Dame Rachel de Souza, Children's Commissioner for England, says:

"We cannot shy away, though, from the fact that poor education outcomes, long health waiting lists or simply feeling unsafe converge in particular places."

Despite the geographical differences, the assessment finds that no area performs consistently well across every measure. Even some of the highest-scoring locations have substantial gaps in services available to children.

Commissioner calls for emergency fund and new accountability measures

Alongside the findings, de Souza has set out proposals intended to place children's outcomes at the center of England's developing devolution arrangements.

These include establishing a national Children's Emergency Fund, which local areas could access when outcomes fall below agreed minimum standards. Funding would support services including education, policing, health and youth provision, alongside coordinated improvement plans.

The Commissioner also recommends introducing a Children's Test for strategic authorities, requiring them to assess the impact of their policies on children's lives and publish annual progress against agreed outcomes.

Every strategic authority should appoint a Deputy Mayor for Children, or designated lead, with responsibility for coordinating services and improving regional outcomes, according to the recommendations.

Education-specific proposals include a new statutory duty for strategic authorities to coordinate work on school and college attendance across health, education, social care and policing, alongside jointly commissioned support for children most at risk of missing education.

The report also calls for national minimum standards on local data collection and recommends that the Department for Education introduce a single unique identifier for every child to support better information sharing across services.

ETIH Innovation Awards 2027 open for entries

The ETIH Innovation Awards 2027 are now open for entries, with 26 categories recognising companies, institutions, projects and individuals making a measurable impact across education technology. The global awards span AI in education, digital learning, higher education, skills and workforce, inclusion, education operations, evidence and impact, with entries managed through ETIH’s new online awards platform.

Entries are open worldwide, with the early-bird deadline on Friday 18 December 2026 and the final entry deadline on Friday 26 February 2027 at 23:59 UK time. 

Explore the 2027 categories and judging criteria, read the How to Enter guide or start an entry through the ETIH Innovation Awards 2027 platform.