according to the children's commissioner. dame rachel de souza said increased investment is making a difference to children who are struggling, but the coronavirus pandemic has made the challenge greater. anisa kadri reports. counting the cost of the covid pandemic. this report says more children are struggling with their mental health. up from one in nine to one in six, according to data. but the number in england referred to nhs mental health services by the likes of gps and teachers fell sharply at the start of covid—19. children around the country really have suffered with this isolation and being away from school. so i think it is a very important issue. although overall referrals have dropped, what you can see is it was during the lockdown that referrals really dropped and then they sharply went up. the commissioner's report says between 2020 and 2021, around 497,000 children were referred, compared to 539,000 a year before.