The Children’s Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza’s new Childhood Lottery report has revealed which areas in the country are the most challenging for young people, including areas in South Yorkshire.
The report, published last week, compiles data from 153 local authorities across 162 measures of children’s lives. The measures include health, education and community service access.
Dame Rachel de Souza said in a statement: “The extent of failure is too great. I cannot see what I have seen, here and over my six years as Commissioner, and see the status quo as anything less than a national emergency.
“We cannot tolerate the status quo. Children care so deeply about where they live – that is why I have undertaken this work.
“Local, regional and national decision makers need to take a hard look at this data and understand what they need to change so that they can start delivering for children.”
Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire was determined as the most challenging place to grow up, and Cheshire East has been named as one of the least. Areas in South Yorkshire ranked as both highest and lowest across the scales.
360Wire have analysed the data and compiled the most notable revelations for Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster.
Early Years
Barnsley ranked as the ninth lowest in measurements of access to wrap-around childhood care in the 2024 summer term – only 44.9% of schools in the area provided the services, which are valuable for those with working times that don’t align with school hours.
Meanwhile, Doncaster ranked tenth highest out of local authorities’ spending on youth services, in the context of different service provision types captured in the section 251 department of the budget returns to the Department of Education. During the 2024/25 financial year, they spent on average £246 per person aged 13-19.
Similarly, Sheffield ranked eighth among local authorities for their spending on targeted and universal family support services as a proportion of their overall children and young peoples’ expenditure, with 15.6% of it being assigned.
The report also revealed that 100% of local authorities in Yorkshire and The Humber had family hubs or children’s centres in 2025.
Health
Barnsley had the second highest number of health visitors across all local authorities, with 6 in full time employment per 1,000 children. Health visitors are part of the child health workforce, and provide direct health intervention and guidance to new parents. Rotherham was also ranked sixth, with 4.9 on average in FTE.
According to NHS statistics, South Yorkshire had 22,025 children with active mental health referrals (referred to as ‘any period of waiting’) in 2024-25. Sheffield also had the sixth highest number of children who saw NHS dentists in that period with over 70% of young people aged 0-17.
No local authority across the country reached the national target of 95% for vaccination coverage. Locations in South Yorkshire reached high rankings, however, with 93.4% coverage for the MMRV vaccine and 84.7% for the HPV vaccine.
When surveyed in 2024, 14.7% of children in Barnsley disagreed with the statement “you have a healthy diet.” The town also had the fourth highest percentage of pupils enrolled in the Mental Health Support Team programme, with 93%.
Schools, jobs and skills
Some of the most alarming revelations came in the education section of the report, especially for Barnsley.
When surveyed in 2024, 46.2% of children in Barnsley disagreed with the statement “I enjoy school,” and 21.2% of children disagreed that they had “great teachers who support you,” making them the highest proportioned local authorities in the country.
Barnsley also had the seventh highest amount of unauthorised absences in 2024/25 from special provision schools with 35.1%, and the highest amount of absences from special schools in that period, with 10.1% marked unauthorised.
In addition to this, they also had the lowest rate of post-16 provisions per 1000 young people in 2026, averaging 0.1 for each young person. Sheffield had the second highest percentage of children missing education for various reasons, including those awaiting school places or not receiving suitable education, with 8% of children missing schooling.
Community – defined as “children’s experiences outside the home and in interactions with the criminal justice system”
South Yorkshire Police were one of 16 forces to record all vulnerabilities of children in custody during 2024/25. This includes any special needs, their home status and if they are a victim of sexual or criminal exploitation. Recording these is important when holding a child in custody due to the distressing nature of it, so records allow police to treat young people accordingly.
They also recorded a median average of 6 days to a successful outcome in 2024/25 in cases involving child victims. For comparison, the highest average wait for Devon and Cornwall police was 449 days.
Authorities in South Yorkshire have yet to respond to the report. Dame de Souza formally launched the campaign yesterday in Westminster, saying “This data represents things as they are, not how they must be.”
You can read the full report here.