Alma Economics was commissioned by the Children’s Commissioner for England to conduct a comprehensive assessment of all available data on vulnerable children.
We contributed to the development of an analytical framework and helped identify a preliminary set of groups of vulnerable children by exploring definitions and available data publications. We then collected, summarised and analysed publicly available data across all identified groups, creating the first and most complete dataset of children's vulnerabilities in England. To add to the original analysis, we collated trends over time and explored, using statistical methods, how certain vulnerabilities can overlap.
To ensure the information we identified was comprehensive and accurate, we sought guidance from analysts in government departments and other public bodies including the Department for Education, Public Health England, and Ofsted, as well as from non-governmental organisations such as the Education Policy Institute and the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion.
Our work has helped guide the development of the Children’s Commissioner’s agenda by identifying unmet needs, emerging trends, and research gaps. Our team continued collaborating with the Children’s Commissioner for England for several years after the original project, updating the data collected and producing bespoke analyses.
Relevant reports:
➥ Children’s Commissioner’s annual study of childhood vulnerability in England (2018)
➥ Measuring aggregate vulnerability in childhood (July 2018)
➥ Estimating the number of vulnerable children – Totals (July 2017)
➥ Estimating the number of vulnerable children – 29 groups (July 2017)
