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Good Childhood Report 2025 Policy Recommendations

Children’s wellbeing is still in decline, and too many feel alone in facing it.  This year’s report places young people at the heart of the conversation, because children and young people deserve better. It exposes the pressures they face, from toxic beauty standards and academic stress to a lack of safe spaces and amplifies their calls for change: more trusted adults, inclusive communities, and real opportunities to shape their world.  The message is clear - we must act now to ensure every child feels valued, supported, and hopeful.  Our actions for parliamentarians and policy makers can be found here.

Young people must be at the heart of every solution. If they’re not involved in shaping it, it’s not working. That’s why we are calling on the government to take bold, immediate action to turn the tide on children’s wellbeing. 

You can read more about the key findings from this year’s Good Childhood Report here. The reports are available to download here:

Sad girl staring out of bus window.

Reclaiming hope in a changing world

From evidence to impact: The Good Childhood Report 2025 policy recommendations

Every child deserves to grow up feeling good about who they are, supported by strong relationships and confident in their future. Yet, the findings of The Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Report 2025 reveal a troubling reality – too many children and young people are struggling. They are navigating complex challenges, whether around their self-esteem, their experiences at school, their sense of belonging in their communities, how they see their place in society, or their voices being heard.

The recommendations cover a range of issues that impact young people as individuals, their relationships with peers, adults and the community around them, as well as wider societal impacts and their hopes for the future.

Together, we must act to ensure every child feels valued, supported, and hopeful about their future. Only then can we truly overturn the decline in children’s wellbeing – for every child.

Now I’ve got a great staff member, and they have made all the difference and made it possible for me to engage in education. Basically, it shows how much the relationship with the staff member is so key. I believe she genuinely cares.

Recommendations

Children and young people thrive when they feel good about themselves, and have strong, supportive relationships with those closest to them. Yet too many are struggling with themselves, and with others.

The Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Report 2025 shows that over one in seven children (aged 10 to 15) were unhappy with their appearance. For girls it’s even worse, with more than one in five unhappy with how they look, making it the area of life that they’re most unhappy with.

Our recommendations at a glance:

Programmes tackling gender stereotypes 
Online accountability and digital literacy 
Shared understandings and training on bullying for all relevant professionals and organisations

School and wellbeing are deeply linked. When children and young people struggle at school, their wellbeing suffers, and when their wellbeing is low, school becomes even harder.

The Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Report 2025 highlights a troubling reality – school is the area of life where children and young people most commonly feel unhappy. Over one in seven say they are unhappy with both schoolwork and school overall. For the first time, ‘getting good grades’ is the top worry for children and young people, with over two in five children and young people worried about this in 2025.

Our recommendations at a glance:

Increased focus on Personal, Social, Health & Economic education and life skills in the curriculum 
Whole school approaches to wellbeing 
Support for primary to secondary school transition 
End punitive behavioural policies in schools

Children’s wellbeing is intrinsically linked to their feelings of belonging in their community. This includes access to support within their community, opportunities to explore spaces for them, and chances to develop relationships with peers, adults and the wider community.

The Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Report 2025 found that 37% of parents and carers struggled to afford out-of-school activities in the past year. Young people also expressed concern around crime, it being their second biggest societal worry this year after rising prices, with 38% of children and young people saying they’re worried about it.

Our recommendations at a glance:

Restoring and expanding youth services 
A trusted adult guarantee, providing chosen trusted adults 
A focus on holistic wellbeing in early support hubs rollout

Children and young people have lots on their minds, and the world around them shapes what they worry about and how they see their future. Their view of society matters, as does society’s view of them, because it directly affects their wellbeing.

The Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Report 2025 shows that having somewhere to live, finding a job and having enough money were the things young people saw as most important for their future. These issues are causing young people to worry, with 40% of young people worried about having enough money for their future.

Our recommendations at a glance:

Ambitious implementation and monitoring of the Child Poverty Strategy 
Increase intergenerational opportunities and understandings of teenagers’ lives 
Improved moderation and responsibility across media and society

Young people’s wellbeing encompasses how they’re feeling now as well as their hopes for the future – but they’re telling us that they often feel hopeless. This year’s Good Childhood Report puts young people’s voices at the heart of the conversation on wellbeing, because their experiences must shape the policies that affect them.

Young people told us that the most important aspect for their future was having somewhere to live. That is not a luxury, it’s a basic expectation. Every child and young person should be able to look ahead with excitement, not anxiety.

Our recommendations at a glance:

Introduce a national wellbeing measurement programme 
Increase opportunities for young people to directly influence their society

“A lot of people say there are so many opportunities ahead of you, but still a lot of young people worry about the future.”

It’s time for action. Children’s wellbeing can’t wait. 

Read more in our policy briefing.

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