Equitable Access to Play – Opportunities for Children and Young People in the North of England
Call for contributions
Call for contributions to the report ‘Equitable Access to Play: Opportunities for Children and Young People’, which brings together case studies and stories that highlight the work of people supporting play on the ground in the North of England. The call for submissions will remain open until the 31st August 2026.
Children and young people have the fundamental right to play, as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Children (Article 31). Play comes in many different forms and can have many different characteristics, but at its core, play is child-led, child-initiated, universal activity for self-exploration and self-expression that is fundamental to holistic development. Children and young people’s play takes place in multiple contexts- school and early years settings, the community, on their doorsteps, in public spaces, in their homes, online and many more. However, access to play opportunities is unequally distributed across England. Substantial inequalities exist for children growing up in poorer communities, with children and young people in the north of England, being most disadvantaged. Recent University of Sheffield research has shown that children in deprived settlements, particularly in the north of England, have fewer, smaller and further-away play spaces. Liverpool, for example, has the lowest percentages of children with good access to playgrounds, whereas Plymouth, Reading and Southampton have the highest. Likewise, a DWP report, showed the average proportion of children living in low income families across the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber in 2024 was 28.9%, compared to just 20.1% across the south of England.
The Equitable Access to Play: Opportunities for Children and Young People in the North of England report will help turn the tide by collecting case studies that evidence approaches, initiatives, strategies and innovations that support children’s everyday opportunities for play.
2025 was a big year for play with the Centre for Young Lives publishing the Raising the Nation Play Commission final report “Everything to Play For: A Plan to Ensure Every Child in England Can Play”. Likewise, Play England, the national charity for play, set out their new It All Starts With Play National Strategy– an ambitious roadmap to restore a play-based childhood for all children by 2035. These reports established the importance of play as essential for happy, healthy childhoods, and highlighted the sharp decline in children and young people’s play over the last few decades. Championed by Play England and Tom Hayes MP, we now have a dedicated group of all party MPs focused on the importance of promoting children and young people’s play. There have also been many recent developments among local councils recognising the importance of different departments’ contributions to supporting play opportunities through planning, public realm, parks, transport, housing, and community services.
Now, in 2026, we need to keep up the momentum and continue to demonstrate that a more playful society is possible. The Equitable Access to Play: Opportunities for Children and Young People in the North of England report is a collaboration with Child of the North and the Centre for Young Lives and brings together case studies and stories that highlight the work of people supporting play on the ground in the North of England.
We want to hear from anyone who works to support children and young people’s play in the community, in schools, in the home, streets and neighbourhoods, public spaces, doorsteps, online and anywhere else that play takes place.
We would like to hear from anyone who is involved in the business of supporting children and young people’s play: academics, teachers, local authorities, play workers, community organisations, adventure playgrounds, and anyone else with a story to tell.
We are particularly interested in activities, programmes, policies and case studies that take place in the North of England.
In particular, we are interested in the following areas:
- Play in children and young people’s lives and learning – Play in schools, early years settings and beyond formal educational spaces enables children to build upon how they think, feel, imagine and relate to others. Children lead and take ownership of their play; through attuned interactions, adults can offer sensitive guidance that enriches play as a meaningful context for learning.
- Space/s to play – Includes formal and informal play spaces across the built environment such as: parks, open spaces, doorsteps, streets, neighbourhood spaces, public spaces, natural green areas, active travel routes where children can play along the way, supervised play settings including adventure playgrounds, and community recreation facilities. We are keen to hear how play is promoted across these different spaces.
- Time and right to play – Children’s play is recognised as a fundamental right under United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), further elaborated through General Comment 17, which emphasises the responsibility of governments to ensure children have sufficient time, space and opportunity to play. We are keen to hear examples of how time is made to bolster children’s right to play
- Play, wellbeing and health – Play supports children’s wellbeing, confidence, self-esteem, and general mental health, as well as being beneficial to children’s physical health through elevated levels of physical activity and fine and gross motor skill development.
- Digital Play – Formal or less formal activities that support children’s play in relation to digital technologies, such as playing digital games or playing in relation to children’s interest in games.
- Parents and play – Parents, carers and guardians play a central role in supporting children’s play, yet, many parents face difficult barriers that constrain their ability to do so. We would like to hear about how parents have been empowered to support and enrich their children’s play.
Submission information:
If you have a project, a story or a case study around supporting children’s play in the North of England, we would love to hear about it. In particular, we would like to learn about projects that address inequalities in access to play in relation to deprivation, disability, inclusion and underserved communities. Please share your case study with us in up to 400 words. You could talk about the following:
- The context of your activities
- What it is you do
- Is your work situated within wider areas, such as health, wellbeing, education, placemaking and community development?
- What impact your activities have
- Any examples of youth voice
- Any examples of systems change you have achieved, such as policy, planning, governance, partnerships that enable conditions for play at scale
- Barriers you encounter
And finally, we would like to hear about what would you need to help your activities to continue and flourish?
How to submit:
You can submit your contribution either via:
- This short Google Form CotN Play Form Written Submission – Google Forms
- If you would prefer to have an informal chat with us instead, please fill out this form and we will get in touch with you to arrange a time CotN Play Form Oral Submission – Google Forms
The call for submissions will remain open until the 31st August 2026.
