A London for Every Child: Why this new report matters
London has always been a city of opportunity. For generations, people have come to London to study, to work, to build businesses and to experience the extraordinary diversity and energy that makes the capital one of the world’s great cities. But a question now sits quietly at the heart of London’s future: Is London still a city where families can afford to stay and raise children?
A new report from the London Assembly’s Economy, Culture and Skills Committee — A London for Every Child: Reversing the City’s Declining Child Population — suggests the answer is becoming increasingly uncertain.
The report highlights a striking trend. Since the early 2010s the number of children living in London has been falling faster than anywhere else in the UK. Between 2013 and 2023 alone, the number of children aged 0–9 fell by 99,000, even while London’s overall population continued to grow.
This matters. Children are not just another demographic group. Their presence is one of the clearest indicators of whether a city is healthy, sustainable and optimistic about its future. When families feel forced to leave — or people decide not to start families at all — it tells us something important about the pressures people are facing.
The Assembly’s inquiry explores the reasons behind this shift, and the conclusions will not surprise many parents in the capital. Housing costs remain among the highest in the country, family‑sized homes are scarce, childcare is expensive, and many neighbourhoods are simply not designed with children in mind. Taken together, these pressures mean that many young Londoners face a difficult choice: delay having children, have fewer children, or leave the city altogether. Yet the report is not simply a diagnosis of the problem. It also offers a constructive set of proposals for making London more child‑friendly.
One particularly welcome recommendation is the creation of a London Children’s Ambassador within City Hall. Ensuring that children’s needs are considered across housing, planning, transport and public space would be a powerful signal that London takes childhood seriously.
The report also calls for London to seek recognition as a UNICEF Child Friendly City, aligning the capital with a growing international movement that places children’s wellbeing at the heart of urban policy.
For those of us who have been advocating for children’s play and child‑friendly environments, it is encouraging to see the report highlight the importance of play as part of London’s future.
Two further recommendations stand out. First, the proposal for a map of play spaces across London, giving boroughs and families a clear picture of where children can play and where provision is lacking. Second, the call for a London Play Sufficiency Action Plan — a strategic approach to ensuring that every child in the capital has access to the space, time and opportunity to play.
As chair of the Raising the Nation Play Commission, whose final report Everything to Play For was published last year, I saw the growing evidence that play is not simply a leisure activity for children. It is fundamental to their physical health, mental wellbeing, social development and learning. The Commission concluded that England needs a national play strategy and stronger leadership to ensure children’s right to play is protected and promoted. In many ways, the London Assembly’s report reflects the same growing understanding: that children’s outcomes — from health to wellbeing to opportunity — are deeply shaped by the environments in which they grow up.
This is not a new insight. Between 2018 and 2022 I had the privilege of chairing the Mayor of London’s Child Obesity Taskforce, which examined how the environments children grow up in shape their health. Our report, Every Child a Healthy Weight, argued that tackling childhood obesity requires thinking about the places where children live, move and play. In other words, healthy childhoods depend on healthy places.
Cities that make room for children — for their curiosity, their movement, their noise and imagination — are almost always better places for everyone else too.
London still has many extraordinary advantages as a place to raise children: green spaces, world‑class cultural institutions, public transport and the diversity of communities that make the city such a vibrant place to grow up. But those advantages cannot be taken for granted.
If housing remains unaffordable, childcare costs remain among the highest in the country and new developments continue to overlook the needs of families, the risk is clear: London could gradually become a city where fewer and fewer children grow up. That would not just be a loss for families. It would be a loss for the future of the capital itself.
The London Assembly’s report is therefore both a warning and an opportunity. It reminds us that if London wants to remain one of the world’s great cities, it must also remain a city where children belong. Because, in the end, a city that works for children works better for everyone.