MORE than a decade of Tory rule has led to a “deeply distressing” fall in children’s wellbeing, a young person’s charity revealed today.

The number of children aged between 10 and 15 who reported being unhappy rose from 173,000, or 3.8 per cent, in 2010 — when the Conservatives came to power — to an estimated 306,000, or 6.7 per cent, by 2019, the Children’s Society said. 

Its tenth annual Good Childhood Report, based on research from Essex University, said that 2019’s total — which represents a staggering one in every 15 young people — is the highest proportion it has yet recorded. 

For its latest investigation, the charity asked 2,000 10 to 17-year-olds between April and June this year to give a mark out of 10 gauging their happiness with key areas of life.

Family came top with an average score of 8.1, followed by health at 8 and friends at 7.8.

But children were less happy with their future (6.9), school (7.1) and appearance (7.2). One in 25 also struggled with the upheaval brought by Covid-19, the report showed, suggesting a looming mental health crisis. 

Young people with low life satisfaction in their early teenage years are at risk of mental illness and should be helped to build relationships and avoid bullies, the charity stressed. 

Chief executive Mark Russell said: “It’s deeply distressing to see that children’s wellbeing is on a 10-year downward trend.  Unhappiness at this stage can be a warning sign of potential issues in later teenage years.”

National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children chief executive Sir Peter Wanless said that it is “imperative that we listen and respond to what children and young people are telling us about their lives.”