Our impact

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We work with young people across the country to help them transform their lives. Our services are as varied as the experiences of the young people we meet. We listen to them, so that we can make sure they get the right support at the right time – boosting their wellbeing, protecting them from harm, and making sure they can access the essentials.  

We’re here when they need us, and through our campaigning and influencing work, we’re fighting for the local and national change we need to create a society that works for all children.  

You make all this possible – our volunteers, campaigners, and supporters. Whether you give your time, lend your voice to our campaigns, or support us financially, you’re making a real difference for young people.  

Every young person deserves a safe, happy childhood. One where they can make friends, get an education, and feel good about themselves, their lives, and their futures. We’re a powerful community. And we’ll keep going until we’ve built a brighter future for all young people.   

We’ve all faced big challenges over the past few years and, as the cost of living crisis continues, children and their families are under huge pressure. It’s more important than ever before that our services are here for young people – now, when they need us most.  

Children are facing increased risks of exploitation, abuse, and neglect as families struggle to afford the essentials. Our Good Childhood Reports show that life is still getting harder for too many children. Their wellbeing and happiness are suffering.

This isn’t right. Children’s lives should be getting easier, not harder. That’s why we’re continuing to do all that we can to support the UK’s young people, today and tomorrow. 

The services we offer are as varied as the young people we work with, incorporating everything from one-to-one therapy to group sessions, sports to drama, education to participation. At every stage, we listen to young people when they tell us what they need. 

This year, children’s emotional health and wellbeing have continued to suffer. Our Good Childhood Reports highlight that children’s wellbeing continues to decline. 

Many of the national and local services that should be supporting young people’s wellbeing and mental health are overstretched, making it difficult for them to access the help they need (YoungMinds 2022). It’s more important than ever that we’re here for them in these challenging times.  

We make sure that young people can look forward to their futures with hope. Our ground-breaking drop-in emotional health and wellbeing services mean young people don’t have to wait for an appointment when they need support, and our trained mental health professionals offer short- and long-term therapy, too, as well as group sessions and online advice.  

Every year, thousands of young people are exploited and abused (NSPCC, 2022). They might be groomed by criminals into selling drugs, or forced to send sexually explicit photos of themselves to their abuser. They might be made to open a bank account for a criminal group or keep dangerous secrets from their loved ones.  

The cost of living crisis is increasing the risks young people are facing (Barnardo's, 2022), as exploiters take advantage of their concerns about their family’s finances to force them into committing crimes with the promise of ‘easy money’.  

Young people desperately need change. We work to protect young people from harm and to help them begin to heal. That includes offering young people direct support, running campaigns like #LookCloser to improve the systems designed to safeguard young people, and developing tools and training to help professionals take effective action to prevent and disrupt exploitation. Together, we can protect every childhood.  

The cost of living crisis has put thousands of families at risk of being pushed into poverty, and created huge additional pressures for families that were already struggling. Shockingly, more than 1 in 4 children in the UK are already living in poverty (Department for Work and Pensions, HBAI in 2021/22).  

Our services provide advocacy and support services to families, offer guidance on housing and crisis funds, and help young carers, young refugees, and others access the support they’re entitled to.  

We support young people to deal with the physical and psychological challenges that living in poverty can cause and work to drive wider change through campaigns like #ProtectEveryChildhood. Last year, we partnered with other charities to call for the Government to uprate benefits in line with inflation – the success of this campaign will positively impact as many as 11.3 million children in England, Scotland, and Wales.  

As we look to the year ahead, we are united in our determination to overturn the damaging decline in children’s wellbeing. Together we can ensure more young people are safe and happy, and we can live in a society where children are able to grow up to fulfil their hopes and dreams.

We worked with over 60,000 young people in 2022/23. Our Impact Summary and Annual Report showcases the amazing work done by our practitioners — as well as our colleagues working for policy change — and our progress towards our 2030 goal of overturning the damaging decline in children’s wellbeing. This includes work like our #ProtectEveryChildhood campaign, that’s been successfully supporting children through the cost of living crisis. Read more about our achievements, impact, and future goals in the report.