2024-08-28 / News

We're calling for a national strategy for England on child neglect

Our research reveals that most professionals across key sectors don't think there's enough support for children experiencing neglect.

New NSPCC research reveals that most (83%) professionals across healthcare, the police, children’s social care and education believe there are not enough services available to provide support for children experiencing neglect.
Over half (54%) said they’d seen an increase in child neglect cases during their professional life, with 90% of these saying the rising cost of living and poverty rates were a driving factor.
Neglect is persistently the top concern reported to the NSPCC Helpline, with over 20,000 contacts received last year.

We’re calling for a national strategy for England to tackle child neglect, as professionals report that the current response is ‘inadequate and slow’.

83% of those working across healthcare, the police, children’s social care and education said there are not enough services available in England to provide support for children and families experiencing neglect.

We’ve launched a new report – drawing on research findings from a national poll and focus groups with professionals – which reveals there are limited resources, specialised professionals or interventions to help tackle neglect in England.

See the report

The report also shows that in 2023/2024, neglect was once again the top concern reported to the NSPCC Helpline:

20,571 contacts were made by adults worried about the wellbeing of a child
almost half of these contacts (47%) led to a referral being sent to a local agency.

This is higher than the total for all Helpline child welfare contacts in 23/24, where 34% ended in a referral.

In the report, Too little, too late, the multi-agency response to identifying and tackling neglect, professionals across England said that neglect had been ‘normalised’ in their practice, identifying the cost-of-living crisis and increased poverty as key contributors towards the rise in this problem.

See the report

The new report, which included YouGov polling of 700 professionals working across healthcare, the police, children’s social care and education, also found that:

54% of professionals polled said they’d seen an increase in neglect cases during their professional life. Of those who saw an increase, 90% said the rising cost of living and poverty rates was a driving factor and 76% said a reduction in community support to parents was a key factor.
Around 1 in 5 healthcare workers (18%) and teachers (22%) said they were not very confident about deciding when concerns about neglect should be referred to children’s social care.
Over 3 in 5 police officers (62%) and half of teachers (52%) polled said they thought children’s social care responded slowly to a neglect referral with the appropriate assessment
Only 44% of all professionals polled said they felt it was usually within their power to directly help a child who was being neglected.
56% of healthcare professionals, police and teachers said they are never or rarely informed of follow up action after a neglect referral is made.
Less than 5% of teachers and police said they felt that appropriate action following a neglect referral was always taken.

Anna Edmundson, Head of Policy at the NSPCC, said: “For too long, child neglect has been absent from the conversation about supporting families and reducing the number of children in care. Professionals tell us they are confident in identifying neglect, but the current lack of national focus from Government on tackling it has left many children without the right intervention and support.

“Resources and early help services that would help support children and families where neglect is a concern are at an all-time low, while economic pressures on families are at an all-time high. This combination is proving disastrous for children and families.

“The new Labour government can turn this around by focussing their attention on measures that would make a difference to addressing neglect, particularly in the context of the cost-of-living crisis and increasing child poverty.

"We want to see a national strategy to tackle neglect rolled into the Children’s Wellbeing Bill and work to address child poverty delivered at the earliest opportunity.”

Our call for a national neglect strategy

We want neglect to be treated as an urgent, national crisis. We want the UK government to introduce a national neglect strategy and improved guidance for better tackling neglect, considered alongside plans to eradicate child poverty.

Neglect is the only form of child maltreatment which is defined by its persistence, meaning there is expectation that it must continue for a time before intervention.

We believe that the UK government:

must focus urgently on tackling neglect as it pushes forward reforms to children’s social care and improvements to multiagency working in England through the upcoming Children’s Wellbeing Bill.
needs to make sure neglect is considered as part of its plans to tackle child poverty.
should set out proposals for making education the fourth statutory safeguarding partner.

The government should also be ambitious in its plans to roll out integrated, joined-up family support services that are delivered at the point of need via a single ‘front door’. Aspects of this model are currently being tested through the government’s existing Pathfinder programme but there is an absence of focus on neglect.

See the report

What is neglect?

Neglect is defined as the ongoing failure to meet a child’s basic physical and psychological needs.

A child might be left hungry or dirty, or without proper clothing, shelter, supervision or health care. This can put children and young people in danger. And it can also have long term cumulative effects on their physical and mental wellbeing.

The number of children on child protection plans where neglect is the initial category of abuse is consistently high – and along with emotional abuse is the only form of maltreatment that has not declined over the last 10 years.