Welcome to our Annual Report and Accounts for 2024-25.
The link to the report is below:
The Annual Report includes the following foreword from Commissioner Chris Quinn:
“I am pleased to present this Annual Report and Accounts, and to demonstrate how I have used the resources provided to me to continue to meet my statutory duties to safeguard and promote the rights and best interests of children and young people across Northern Ireland.
This work has been, and continues to be, extensive. From addressing child poverty and educational inequality to challenging discrimination and advocating for mental health reform, supported by my staff, I have remained a strong, independent voice for children. Our work has influenced government policy, strengthened accountability, and ensured that the rights of all children, particularly the most vulnerable, remain central to public decision-making.
Through creative engagement and partnership working, we have reached thousands of children and young people, amplifying their voices in shaping policies and systems that affect their lives. Understanding the views and lived experiences of children and young people is crucially important on the delivery of my duties. My team and I have worked hard to do this – and we want to say a massive thank you to every child and young person who has engaged with us, for being part of our work, for trusting us with your lived experiences, and placing faith in our team to work to support you.
Our Youth Panel, made up of young people from across NI, have continued to provide advice, directly to my team and I, and, last March, they hosted a major event, in partnership with CAFRE college, focusing on climate justice. They participated at an international level through the European Network for Young Advisors (ENYA), the Athens Democracy Forum, and through Children’s Rights Connect in Geneva.
My team and I continue to play a key role through the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC) and the British Irish Network of Ombudsmen and Children’s Commissioners (BINOCC). We have contributed to joint position papers on issues including Children’s Social Care, Child’s Right to Physical Health, the protection of Children of Gaza, and on Strengthening Independent Children’s Rights Institutions and recognising their unique role.
We are proud to have been granted Core Participant Status at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry – where we have already begun and will continue to bring the voices of children and young people to the heart of the process, highlighting that children’s rights were not fully considered in during and since the pandemic – which harmed, and continues to harm, children.
Other initiatives have included our Libraries Tour, in partnership with Libraries NI, which enabled my team and I to engage directly with children in communities while raising awareness of the UNCRC. The ‘Big Rights Bus Tour’, in partnership with the NI Youth Forum and Translink Youth Forum, was a huge success, touring NI for a week to celebrate World Children’s Day 2024. We are also collaborating with the QUB Centre for Children’s Rights to host a series of ‘Incorporation Conversations’ as we work towards full and direct incorporation of the UNCRC into domestic law – the single-most impactful thing that the NI Executive can do for our children. Additionally, we engaged over 4,000 children through our annual webinar with CCEA webinar and have held events and participated in events on issues including racist violence, school attendance, online harms, and youth justice.
Failures in the state’s responsibility to ensure a child’s right to education continue to dominate as an issue raised with me directly, and with my legal and investigations team. Along with my policy team, we have engaged with EOTAS settings, special schools, and continue to monitor Special Provision in Mainstream Schools (SPiMS). Next year, we will begin a major piece of research into school attendance.
We have advocated for asylum-seeking and refugee children, and those experiencing homelessness, and we will continue to advise the Departments for Health and Justice on the establishment of a Barnahus – a child-friendly, multi-agency centre where children who have experienced or witnessed abuse can receive support, protection, and justice in one safe, coordinated setting. We will continue to work on lowering the voting age to 16, raising the age of criminal responsibility, ensuring babies, children and young people have equal protection from assault, and on children’s social care reform – ensuring children are safe, supported, and heard.
Despite chronic underfunding, pressures on statutory powers, and increasing complexity of need – including child sexual exploitation, SEND crisis, growing complexity of, and unmet needs, child homelessness, racist violence, paramilitary abuse, online harms, and gaps in the health system – NICCY has continued to deliver meaningful impact. The Children’s Services Cooperation (NI) Act 2015 remains only partially implemented, highlighting the need for systemic legislative and policy change. Children are not adequately recognised in the Programme for Government, and children’s rights are generally not considered in the policy making and public spending process.
I commend my staff for their resilience, creativity, and unwavering focus on improving children’s lives. To each of them, I am extremely, and very sincerely, grateful. Each member of staff has played an important role in doing what we can to make the lives of babies, children, young people and families better. NICCY enters the year ahead stronger, more focused, and determined to ensure that every child in NI flourishes, is valued, and has their rights respected.
My team and I will continue to promote and safeguard the rights and best interests of children and young people by reviewing laws, policies, and services, and advising government and public bodies on how to improve outcomes for children. We will focus on investigating concerns, raising awareness of children’s rights, amplifying young people’s voices in decision-making, and holding public authorities to account to ensure full compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
For Every Child, Every Right!”
Should you have any queries/comments on our Annual Report, you can contact our Interim Chief Executive Alex Tennant.
Our previous Annual Reports are below: