Youth services in parts of England in state of emergency, children’s commissioner says

The children’s commissioner has spoken to children on recent visits to schools, youth clubs and young offender institutions around the country. Photograph: Luigi Masella/Getty Images

Services for children in parts of England are in a “state of emergency”, according to a report that identifies what it claims to be the hardest places in the country for young people to grow up in.

The children’s commissioner, Rachel de Souza, said in some local authorities individual service failures or systemic problems meant “no child could reasonably be expected to thrive and those that do thrive do so against the odds”.