• Children and young people make up 24% of the population.
• Only 11% of NHS expenditure is allocated to their care.

• There has been a surge in mental health needs among children and young people.
• 80% of those waiting over a year for community services are children and young people.
• 109,000 children and young people under 18 are waiting over a year for first contact with mental health services.
• Fewer children are receiving necessary immunisations, posing long-term public health risks.
• Children living in poverty has increased to 29% (this now 30%), reversing progress made before 2010.
• The UK had the largest rise in relative child poverty of any advanced nation between 2014 and 2021.
• 1 million children experienced destitution* in 2023 – nearly triple the number in 2017.

*Destitution generally means a state of extreme poverty where individuals lack the basic necessities to survive, such as shelter, food, clothing, and healthcare. It signifies a lack of adequate resources to meet essential needs and can be associated with homelessness, lack of income, and an inability to access basic services.

• Despite reductions in stillbirths and neonatal deaths, maternal deaths have increased since the pandemic.
• Black women are nearly 3x more likely to die in childbirth compared to white women.
• Neonatal mortality rates in the most deprived areas are more than double those in the least deprived