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This is how children fall through the gaps: Anne Longfield's final, exasperated warning to Whitehall

Known for speaking truth to power, children’s commissioner Anne Longfield has held true to form in her final address. Her stark views on how many in Whitehall view children and why the vulnerable continue to slip through the net will not make comfortable reading for policy-makers. Pete Henshaw reports


“I have been shocked to discover how many officials have never met any of the children they are responsible for. So many seem to view them as remote concepts or data points on an annual return.

“This is how children fall through the gaps – because too often the people in charge of the systems they need simply don’t see them and try to understand their world.”


After six years as the children’s commissioner for England, Anne Longfield has delivered a stark warning to policy-makers as she steps down from office.

In an online address on Wednesday, February 17, she revealed that she was less than impressed with how many in Whitehall view children and said she often has to “force officials and ministers to the table”.

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