'How safe are our children?' report reveals highest recorded number of children being referred to social services in England
Figures released yesterday - as part of our annual report on the extent of abuse and neglect in the UK - show that the number of children referred to social services in England last year reached its highest since records began.
The report exposed a host of disturbing figures that highlight the pressing need to tackle child abuse. It revealed how 570,800 children were referred to social services in England in 2013/14, the highest number since the data was first collected in 2010.
The report also shows:
- The number of children in the child protection system in the UK has shot up by 80 per cent since 2002.
- The number of children who have been re-registered onto child protection registers in the UK for at least a second time has increased.
- In modern Britain, neglect is the most common reason for children to be in the child protection system.
- The number of contacts by worried adults to the NSPCC helpline about neglect in 2014/15 has risen by 228 per cent in just five years, from 5,363 to 17,602.
- In 2013/14, 1 in 15 10-15-year-olds in England and Wales were the victim of a violent crime, with an estimated 445,000 violent offences experienced by children in that age group.
