The wellbeing of children and young people has been a focus of Government policy for a number of years. The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has further emphasised the importance of supporting our children and young people’s wellbeing, which is why it remains a central part of the Department for Education’s plans for recovery. This report, the fourth State of the Nation, focuses on trends in mental health and wellbeing over the 2021/22 academic year, when a range of recovery-focused activity was in place across Government, which included the Department for Education’s education recovery programme.

Over the past year, schools and colleges have returned to full-time face-to-face teaching and formal examinations have resumed, supported by the Department for Education’s education recovery programme. As the focus has shifted beyond the immediate impacts of COVID-19 towards recovery and the future, a range of national and global issues have emerged or come into focus. These include war in Ukraine, the increasing cost of living, concerns over the environment and climate change, and wider social issues.

The report brings together a range of published information from government, academic, voluntary, and private sector organisations to provide a clear narrative for all those interested in the wellbeing of children and young people in England. It provides a shared evidence base for everyone - in government, services, schools & colleges, parents & families, communities, and employers - to reflect upon and deliver better wellbeing outcomes for all children and young people.

This report follows the structure of the Office for National Statistics’ domains of wellbeing for children and young people1. While we do not include separate chapters for ‘where we live’ and ‘personal finance’, we report on measures related to each of these domains throughout the report as well as indirectly dealing with issues related to them by presenting trends by subgroups where data exists, including by economic disadvantage. We also provide data on children and young people’s views about wider society and the future with a separate chapter focused on children and young people’s concerns about self, society, and the future.