Our policy work

We bring the voices and experiences of children and young people directly to decision-makers across the four nations of the UK.

We call for improvements to the law, policy, or practice that will help change children’s lives and the systems around them for the better. To ensure that the actions we recommend will be as effective as possible we carry out evidence-based research and share it with decision makers and others working to help children across the UK.

See a list of our latest reports

Find out what we’re campaigning for in each nation

Our latest news

Read information about our latest campaigns, media statements and research.

Visit our news page
Get involved with our campaigns

Learn about our campaigns and how you can help change laws, policies, or practices.

Campaign with us
Westminster Parliament Briefings

Read our latest parliamentary briefings highlighting issues affecting children, young people, parents and carers we support.

Read our parliamentary briefings

How we made children’s voices heard in 2021-22

In this period Barnardo’s was mentioned 117 times in legislatures across the UK.

Westminster highlights

Published It Takes a Village, which showcased cost savings from our Isle of Wight service and made the case for the expansion of family hubs, successfully secured in 2021 Autumn Budget.
Published new evidence aimed at influencing the Independent Review of Social Care in England:
- No Place Like Home, developed in partnership with IKEA, highlights the experience care leavers have of accommodation. Five of our seven recommendations were adopted by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
- A Care System That Cares, which contains a checklist of recommendations co-created by care experienced young people supported by Barnardo’s.
Led a coalition calling on the Government to introduce compulsory age verification for commercial pornography sites which they did in the Online Safety Bill. Meanwhile, we gathered over 1,000 signatures for our open letter to pornography sites, calling for immediate action to keep children safe online. Read our open letter to pornography sites.
Achieved amendments to the Health and Care Act, including protection for young carers when their relatives are discharged from hospital, working in partnership with Carers UK.
Launched a report shining a light on the hidden nature of child criminal exploitation (CCE) demonstrating the gaps in recording and identification of child victims.
Hosted a joint fringe event with the NSPCC at Conservative and Labour Party conferences.

Barnardo's in Westminster

As the UK’s largest and oldest national children’s charity we work with central and local government to achieve better outcomes for more children.

Devolved nations highlights

In Northern Ireland we launched a manifesto, An Assembly for Children, ahead of the elections with 20 MLAs attending the launch in Stormont.
We gave evidence to the Communities Committee of the NI Assembly on the financial impact of Covid-19 on charities, and successfully influenced policy and legislation on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, justice and adoption.
In Scotland we gave oral evidence to inquiries into young people’s mental health and wellbeing and the Scottish Attainment Challenge. We also secured debates in the Scottish Parliament, arranged service visits for MSPs, and supported the campaign to double Scottish Child Payment
In Cymru we held focus groups to influence policy on mental health; gave evidence to an inquiry on care experienced young people and their children; and arranged visits for MPs and MSs.
We also supported the launch of the #EndingPhysicalPunishment campaign in Wales.

Find out more about our campaigns in the devolved nations

Read our latest reports

Our latest reports are below. Visit our report archive for older documents.

A Warm Welcome

Our report, A Warm Welcome, outlines a blueprint for supporting displaced children seeking protection in the UK.

Child Exploitation: A Hidden Crisis | Briefing Paper

Children face a range of threats on- and offline, including sexual abuse and exploitation, criminal exploitation, and trafficking. Read how children can be safeguarded and supported.
Policy and research document

A Crisis On Our Doorstep

Our research, A Crisis On Our Doorstep, exposes the severe impact of the cost-of-living crisis on children, young people and families across the UK.

Practitioners' concerns for issues facing young people

Read our latest research in collaboration with King’s College London which reveals that children face a mental health emergency, heightened online dangers and a lack of support until reaching ‘crisis point’.

“It's hard to talk” Expanding Mental Health Support Teams in Education

Read “It's hard to talk” Expanding Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) in education, Barnardo’s latest research into how to improve children and young people’s mental health.

Care-experienced Parents Unite for Change

Young people who grew up in the care system are around 2.5 times more likely to become pregnant compared with other teenagers. Our Care-experienced Parents United for Change report looks at how to improve support for these young people.

Cost-of-living report: impacts on children and young people

More children are at risk of being pulled into poverty. The Barnardo's 'At what cost?' report makes recommendations to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis.

Supporting refugees from Ukraine

An overview of Barnardo’s support for children and families arriving in the UK, and recommendations for the next stage of the Government’s response.

Towards a better children’s social care system

Following the publication of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care in England, we have a unique opportunity to change the system and to transform the support provided to the most vulnerable children in our society.

From pillar to post: how to achieve greater stability for children in the care system

While ‘care’ can mean significant instability for many children, this is far from inevitable. Our report illustrates how building and sustaining relationships should be placed at the heart of the care system.

A care system that cares

Over the last six months, we have been working with a group of eight care experienced young people to ask them what they want from the care review in England. The young people told us what they see as the key challenges in the current system and the practical solutions needed to make it better. They came up with eight recommendations.

No Place Like Home. A look at young people’s experiences of leaving the care system.

A Barnardo’s report – in partnership with IKEA

Exploited and Criminalised

Exploited and Criminalised explains how the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, can make a real difference to children by creating a statutory definition of child criminal exploitation (CCE); and placing a requirement on local areas to specifically tackle CCE and serious youth violence.
Research

In Our Own Words

A report on how Covid-19 has affected the mental health of the young people we support.

Time for a Clean Slate

The Government must put wellbeing at the heart of education as children return to school after Covid-19.

Our influencing work: domestic abuse

Children affected by domestic abuse are some of the most vulnerable in the country. Learn more about how we have influenced the government on the issue of domestic abuse.

#ItsOurFuture

Children’s voices often go unheard in politics – so we’ve found out from over 40 young people about what they want changed.

Generation Digital

Does the Children Act 1989 – designed to keep children safe in the offline world – sufficiently protect children growing up in today’s digital world?

Left to their own devices: social media and mental health

To find out more about the effects of social media on children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, we gathered insight from 80 practitioners across more than 30 of our services in the UK.

Knife crime

Knife offences and knife related deaths have been rising since 2014 across the country. This is a public health crisis which impacts young people. Read more.

Overcoming a lack of hope

Some children and young people feel there is little or no possibility of a positive future. We wanted to find out why, and how to change this - read our report to learn more.