The Good Childhood Report
Each year, The Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Report explores what children and young people tell us about how their lives are going. Now in its 15th year, The Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Report presents trends and patterns in young people's wellbeing and explores the theme of people and places of belonging. It brings together quantitative and qualitative insights from children and young people, including from a group of Young Advisors who conducted research with their peers, and from professionals who work directly with children and young people.
Download the reports
Download the full report at the top, or download the summary reports here:
Key findings from The Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Report 2026
What did our household survey 2026 show?
- In 2026, 10% of the children and young people who took part in the household survey had low wellbeing.
- School was the aspect of life that children and young people were most commonly unhappy with.
- Rising prices was children and young people’s main worry about society, while almost four in five parents and carers were concerned about increases to the cost of living.
What did the Understanding Society survey 2026 show?
- Children’s average happiness with all six aspects of life continues to be significantly lower than when the survey started (in 2009/10).
- In 2023/24, females were on average significantly less happy than males with their life as a whole, their appearance, school, and, for the first time since 2016/17, with their friends.
- Males and females differed in the aspects of life they were most commonly unhappy with. Males were most commonly unhappy with their schoolwork and school, while females were most commonly unhappy with their appearance.
It feels as though year on year there’s always more to worry about...It ends up becoming very overwhelming.
- Young person
cost of living
Wellbeing and belonging
Belonging was considered by young people and professionals as integral to young people’s wellbeing, with both qualitative insights and survey data highlighting an association between a lack of belonging and low wellbeing.
A range of challenges such as pressure to fit in, discrimination, exclusion and bullying, and fears about the world around them affected young people’s ability to develop a positive sense of belonging and often led to them feeling pressured to change who they are to fit in and conform to expectations.
Low wellbeing was significantly associated with a lower sense of belonging in the community and in a young person’s local area.
key findings from Good Childhood Report 2026
Nearly 1/4
of young people with low wellbeing did not feel like they belonged in their community
Over 2 in 5
young people with low wellbeing felt uncomfortable and out of place in their local area
wellbeing
Both young people and professionals felt that negative labelling of young people, particularly teenagers, was widespread. They felt that this created a cycle where negative views of young people and subsequent lack of provision “sort of pushes sort of rebellious behaviour” from young people and led to older generations having negative experiences of sharing public spaces with young people, furthering negative views about them.
If they can find a community where they feel comfortable and they feel heard and they feel safe, then overall they will be happier because they know that they have a group of people to go to and to feel welcome.
- Young person
Putting children's wellbeing first
Every child deserves a good childhood. We’re campaigning to put children’s wellbeing at the heart of this Government’s agenda.
Places and power
Young people and professionals outlined the positive impact that having access to suitable spaces and activities had on young people’s sense of belonging. They also highlighted the importance of sharing power with young people to increase their sense of belonging and ensure that spaces for young people were suitable.
Suitable spaces and activities provided young people with opportunities to develop their identity, connect with others and supported a sense of belonging and wellbeing. However, young people and professionals outlined the dire need for more spaces that are suitable for young people.
Results from the mixed-method survey conducted with professionals highlighted this lack of spaces available to young people. The majority (26 out of 31) of professionals who took part in the survey did not feel that there were enough appropriate places for young people to go and spend time in the local areas they worked in.
Spaces and activities also needed to be accessible, affordable, suitable and inclusive of all young people – and young people needed to be aware of them. Professionals saw meaningful codesign and coproduction with young people as vital solutions to local opportunities being genuinely welcoming and suitable for them:
Their sense of community is impacted directly by their capacity to shape the offer locally.
- Professional
Ongoing decline
People and pathways
Access to trusted adults and support when it was needed was identified by young people and professionals as an essential protective factor for young people’s sense of belonging and wellbeing overall.
It can be really damaging if you don’t have people that you can talk to or fall back on when something like life is hard.
- Young person
Low wellbeing was significantly associated with young people reporting that they did not have a trusted adult they could turn to if they needed. Young people with low wellbeing were more likely to disagree that there was an adult outside of their family that would be there for them.
Specific circumstances and experiences hindered young people from accessing support, such as stigma, feeling like they are not taken seriously, feeling misunderstood or judged, and having had negative previous experiences of services or support. As such, it was highlighted that trusted adults in professional roles need appropriate training and support, time to build trusted relationships with young people, financial investment to support their work, and to be equipped and supported to act on young people’s views and refer them to further help when necessary
It’s very important to have people who you trust and like, you know, that are going to listen to you and what you’re going to say.
- Young person
Policy recommendations
The Children’s Society’s recommendations provide a roadmap for strengthening children’s sense of belonging and improving their wellbeing via the four Ps of belonging: People, Places, Power and Pathways.
Young people need:
- People they trust
- Places they belong
- Power to influence decisions
- Pathways to opportunities and support.
Every young person should have the opportunity to feel that they matter and that they have a place where they belong. These recommendations provide a roadmap for making that ambition a reality.
Somewhere where they [young people] feel heard, like it doesn’t really matter where, but as long as they like have a voice there, then they’ll feel like they belong.
- Young person
The Good Childhood Report 2026
For more information about the latest trends in children's wellbeing, read the full report.
Read the full report
Our wellbeing work
We protect and listen to young people in their most crucial stages of development. Our emotional health drop-in centres across the country are there for young people when they need to talk about their problems.
