Child neglect worsening as professionals warn of ‘disastrous combination’ of poverty and struggling
Back to Topic
Click to Print
Useful Websites
Glossary Term Selection
Ninety per cent of frontline workers said poverty was a driving factor in cases of child neglect.
By Holly Bancroft, Social Affairs Correspondent
Cases of child neglect are being fuelled by a ‘disastrous combination’ of support services being hollowed out and the cost of living crisis, professionals have warned.
New research from children’s charity NSPCC has found that frontline workers feel unable to support families in crisis and are unsure that cases of neglect are being acted on when they are flagged.
Child neglect was the top concern reported to the NSPCC’s helpline in 2023/24, with 20,571 contacts made by adults worried about the wellbeing of a child.
Almost half of these contacts – 47% – led to an initial referral or an updated referral being made to a local agency, indicating a growing severity of cases, the report Too little, too late found.
The most recent data shows that of the 50,780 children on child protection plans in England in 2023, 49% recorded neglect as the initi...
Want to see the rest of this article?
Would you like to see the rest of this article and all the other benefits that Issues Online can provide with?
- Useful related articles
- Video and multimedia references
- Statistical information and reference material
- Glossary of terms
- Key Facts and figures
- Related assignments
- Resource material and websites
