We're calling on the Government to introduce a national child neglect strategy, as education professionals report rising levels of child protection referrals about the issue in schools.
New data from NASUWT’s annual survey of 11,009 teachers revealed over half of early years staff (53%) and 48% of primary school teachers polled said they'd seen a rise in referrals related to child neglect, sounding the alarm that the youngest children are increasingly at risk.
For both early years staff and primary school teachers, neglect saw the biggest reported increase in child protection referrals of any form of abuse, including sexual abuse, emotional abuse and physical abuse.
More broadly, across the education sector more than one in three teachers (35%) in the UK said they'd witnessed an increase in neglect-related referrals in their school and 53% said they'd seen an increase in child protection referrals overall.
Experiencing neglect in a child’s early years can have lasting effects on their development, physical health and wellbeing, and is linked to an increased risk of mental health concerns later in life. Identifying and addressing neglect as early as possible is therefore crucial to improving long-term outcomes for children.
As the only professionals that see children often on a daily basis, teachers play an essential child protection role and are often some of the first people to spot early signs of neglect.
However, as teachers report growing safeguarding concerns, previous NSPCC research has found that their referrals too often fail to result in the support families need, sometimes because it’s simply not available or because the family doesn't reach legal thresholds.
This can leave teachers on the frontline of responding to the effects of neglect, with problems continuing to impact children or escalate.*
