The number of children supported through a child protection plan
to keep them safe from harm increased by more than 2,700 over the
past year - the biggest annual increase in four years, new
figures released today show.
New figures published by the Department for Education show 53,790
children were being supported through a child protection plan on
31 March 2018 – a 5.31 per cent increase on the previous year –
the largest rise since 2014.
The numbers also represent an 84 per cent increase in the number
of children on plans over the past decade.
The Local Government Association, which represents 370 councils
in England and Wales, is warning that this increase shows the
massive demand that is being placed on councils at a time when
resources are being reduced, and highlights the growing number of
children and families needing support from children’s services.
Council leaders say these figures prove why it is vital the
Chancellor announces new funding for children’s services in
Monday’s Autumn Budget.
Child protection plans are started by councils to support
families and keep children safe when it is thought they are at
risk of significant harm. This is a different arrangement to
taking a child into care.
They can be initiated for a range of reasons, including neglect,
physical, sexual or emotional abuse.
Councils say that while causes behind the large increase are
mixed and complex, factors may include greater public awareness
and willingness to report abuse following recent high profile
cases, combined with an increase in the number of families
struggling to cope without additional support and a reduction in
the early intervention services designed to provide that support.
Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, Chair of the Local Government
Association’s Children and Young People Board, said:
“It is absolutely vital that councils are able to support
families and help children who are at risk of significant harm,
but it is also important that help is available before problems
escalate to that point.
“But this is being put at risk by the huge and increasing
financial pressures children’s services are now under, with many
councils being pushed to the brink by unprecedented demand.
“Councils have done all they can to protect spending on
children’s services by cutting services elsewhere and diverting
money, but despite this, they have been forced to reduce or stop
the very services which are designed to help children and
families before problems begin or escalate to the point where a
child might need to come into care.
“We are absolutely clear that unless new funding is found in the
Autumn Budget, then these vital services, which keep children
safe from harm and the worst abuses of society, will reach a
tipping point.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
Children’s services face a £3 billion funding gap by 2025.
Department for Education statistics available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/751092/Characteristics_of_children_in_need_text_2018.pdf
