Facts & figures

Two key social issues were identified as most important by both our customers and employees – namely ‘listening to children’ and ‘helping children in need’. Preliminary research, shown below, helped to put our thinking and eventually, our campaign into a social context.

“We've got ideas for the future.” *

Children and Young People in the UK

In 2003, there were 11.7 million children aged under 16 in the United Kingdom ⁽¹⁾
London is home to 1.65 million children and young people under 18 years, of which 43% live in households with below half the average income ⁽²⁾
All children have the right to say what they think, and they must be listened to ⁽³⁾
45 per cent of children say they are treated disrespectfully ⁽⁴⁾
The most vulnerable children are especially concerned about not being listened to ⁽⁴⁾
38 per cent of children knew that they had a right to be heard ⁽⁴⁾
Young people are almost twice as likely as adults to be victims of crime ⁽⁵⁾

Children and Young People in need

In 2003, more than 67,000 children were being looked after by local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland ⁽¹⁾
In Scotland, in 2000, some 11,000 children were being looked after by their local authority, of whom almost half were living with the parents ⁽⁶⁾
Every year 100,000 children run away ⁽⁷⁾
In 2003, there were 26,000 children on protection registers in England, two fifths under the age of five ⁽¹⁾
Neglect was the most common reason for both boys and girls being placed on the register, with about two fifths of all children on the register for this reason ⁽¹⁾
Of over 2,600 young people placed on the register because of sexual abuse, more than 1,500 were girls ⁽¹⁾
Of over 4,200 young people placed on the register as a result of physical injury, more than 2,300 were boys ⁽¹⁾

Footnotes

‘Social Trends 35’, Office of National Statistics (ONS), 2005
‘Sort It Out! Revisited’, The Office of Children's Rights Commissioner for London, 2002
‘Convention on the Rights of the Child’, United Nations, 1990
‘Sort It Out!’, The Office of Children's Rights Commissions for London, 2001
‘Youth Victimisation: A literature review’, Nacro, 2003
Scotland has a different definition of looked after children, so data are not comparable with the rest of the United Kingdom
The Children's Society, www.the-childrens-society.org.uk

* Young person quoted from the ‘Are Young People Being Heard?’ research