Health Equity North directors advocate for children across the North

September 2025 saw Health Equity North directors speak at a series of events in which they shared research and data around child poverty and advocated for improvements to reduce shocking rates across our regions

N8 Research Partnership and the Centre for Young Lives held a Child of the North National Opportunities Summit event in Leeds, which brought national and regional system leaders, policymakers, academics, practitioners, and young people together to explore bold, evidence-informed strategies that will transform outcomes for children and families across the UK.

Our Academic Co-Directors Professor Kate Pickett of University of York and Professor David Taylor of University of Liverpool both spoke at the event, touching on our Child of the North research and data which shows how child poverty is felt unequally for those living in the North of England. The directors made a call to action to recognise the regional impact of persistent and systemic inequalities, and commit to enacting change to improve the life course for children born into poverty.

Our Executive Director Hannah Davies then spoke at the IPPR North event in Manchester ‘The kids aren’t alright: How to deliver for young people in the North’. Hannah emphasised the scale of child poverty and the need for real policy change that enables children of the north to reach their full potential.

The panel set out how children in the North do not have the same chances as children elsewhere in the country, with less money spent on education, higher cuts, and a higher chance of living in poverty. In this context, social mobility really looks like “isolation”.

The panel also featured speakers from the Social Mobility Commission, Youth Futures Foundation, Northumbria University, alongside journalist Terri White and young people from Youth Focus North West (YFNW), discussing the barriers facing children in the North and the importance of giving young people a voice.

The event was part of the Social Mobility Commission Symposium, focussing on those young people that need support most and to understand that social mobility is not uniform and that more needs to be done to understand the disparities in this country and to ensure children in the north don’t get left further behind.