Drowning is a preventable public health issue. The government must act now.

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No parent expects their child to drown. Yet every year in England, children lose their lives to drowning, leaving families with a lifetime of grief. At the Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK), our vision is for communities to be free from drowning. We believe our expertise in water safety, lifeguarding and lifesaving can support the government to lead prevention work, ensuring one day, no parents will have to mourn a child lost to drowning.

The RLSS UK has collaborated with the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) to produce an annual dataset on child drownings. For the first time, following engagement with the RLSS UK, the NCMD has published additional drowning data, which helps us paint a clearer picture of child drownings: not just who, where, and when they drown, but we now have more insight into why they drowned and how their death might have been prevented.

To reduce drownings, the UK must take a multi-sector approach, focused on people, places and contexts[1]. This requires action from the government, starting with the basic acknowledgement of drowning as a public health issue. Something it currently fails to do. This report is a direct challenge. It holds a mirror up to the government and asks why, despite the evidence and despite international understanding of what effective prevention looks like, drowning is still not treated with the same urgency and coordination as other preventable causes of death. The issue is not whether drowning qualifies as a public health issue. The question is why it is not yet recognised and responded to as one in the UK.

The data highlights stark and unacceptable inequalities:

• Black children drown at more than three times the rate of White children, and this gap is worsening.
• Almost 9 out of 10 child drownings reviewed by a Child Death Overview Panel could have been prevented.
• Male children drown at twice the rate of Female children.
• Children in the most deprived communities drown at twice the rate of the least deprived.
• 7 in 10 children who drowned had been known to social care at some point in their lives.
• The highest drowning rates are among teenagers.

These are not isolated incidents. They are patterns that point to systemic failures in prevention.

This must end. RLSS UK is calling on the Government to take urgent, coordinated action to prevent drowning and provide the national leadership this issue demands. This includes embedding drowning prevention within the Public Health Water Taskforce, adopting a clear public health approach that addresses inequalities and risk factors, ensuring high-risk groups are prioritised. We ask government to align increased access to open water with effective safety measures, and appoints a dedicated Minister to lead a joined-up approach across government.

The evidence is clear. Read the report and join us in taking action to create communities free from drowning.

With thanks to the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD).

Read the full report