Statistics on child neglect

Navigation menu list for sections above the current page: Home; NSPCC inform

Topics: Neglect; Physical abuse; Sexual abuse; Looked after children; Under ones; Disabled children; Minority ethnic children; Child trafficking; Serious case reviews

Statistics on child neglect

Neglect homepage

Statistics homepage

April 2012

Statistics on child neglect, one of the NSPCC's priorities.

Almost one in 10 young adults (9%) had been severely neglected by parents or guardians during childhood.
Neglect is the most common reason for a child to be the subject of a child protection plan or on a child protection register in the UK.

Research statistics on the prevalence of child neglect

Research studies tell us what proportion of children suffer abuse (this is known as the prevalence of child abuse).

In 1998/9 the NSPCC carried out research with young people aged 18-24 years and published the findings in Child maltreatment in the United Kingdom (Cawson et al, 2000).

In 2009, the NSPCC carried out a second major piece of research to give us a more up-to-date picture of child maltreatment. This time we interviewed young adults aged 18-24 years and children aged 11-17 years.

The full research findings have been published as Child abuse and neglect in the UK today (Radford et al, 2011).

Below are the key findings on child neglect from the summary report:

Almost one in 10 young adults (9%) had been severely neglected by parents or guardians during childhood.
(Based on survey of 1,761 young adults aged 18-24 years).
One in 10 children (9.8%) have experienced severe neglect.
(Based on survey of 2,275 children aged 11-17 years).

From: NSPCC (2011) Child abuse and neglect in the UK today London: NSPCC.

Child protection register statistics

In the UK, 22,331 children were the subject of a child protection plan under the category of neglect or were on a child protection register under a category that includes neglect on 31 March 2011 (or 31 July 2011 in Scotland).

44% of all the children in the UK who were the subject of a child protection plan or on a child protection register were under a category that includes neglect.
In England, 18,700 children were the subject of a child protection plan under the category of neglect on 31 March 2011.

44% of all the children subject of a child protection plan in England were under the category of neglect.
In Scotland, 1,050 children were on the child protection register under the category of physical neglect on 31 July 2011.

41% of all the children on the child protection register in Scotland were under the category of physical neglect.

Northern Ireland and Wales use categories that include more than one type of abuse.

In Northern Ireland, 1,131 children were on the child protection register under a category that includes neglect on 31 March 2011.

47% of all the children on the child protection register in Northern Ireland were under a category that includes neglect.
In Wales, 1,450 children were on the child protection register under a category that includes neglect on 31 March 2011.

50% of all the children on the child protection register in Wales were under a category that includes neglect.

From:

Department for Education (2011) Characteristics of children in need in England, 2010-11, final. DfE. Table 20 and Table 5.

Scottish Government (2012) Children's Social Work Statistics Scotland, No.1: 2012 Edition, CP 2010-11 - Additional Tables 6 and 7. Edinburgh: National Statistics.

Source: Waugh, Iain and Fitzpatrick, Manny (2012) Children Order Statistical Tables for Northern Ireland 2005/6 to 2010/11 Table 1.4 Belfast: Northern Ireland, DHSSPS.

Welsh Assembly Government (2011) [Report 024713] Number of children and young persons on the Child Protection register at 31 March by age at 31 March [Cardiff]: StatsWales.

Contact the NSPCC Information Service for further information on neglect, statistics or any other child protection topic

Bookmark this page:

Delicious Digg reddit facebook StumbleUpon