{"id":165111,"date":"2025-06-07T13:56:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T13:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/165111\/"},"modified":"2025-06-07T13:56:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T13:56:19","slug":"dozens-of-serious-incidents-involving-vulnerable-children-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/165111\/","title":{"rendered":"Dozens of serious incidents involving vulnerable children last year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Figures from the Department for Education show about 70 serious incidents regarding children\u2019s welfare were recorded in London in the year to March reports Clara Margotin, Data Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"TwoAcross England, 338 serious incidents were notified in the year to March \u2013 (Credit \u2013 Radar)<\/p>\n

Dozens of serious incidents regarding the welfare of vulnerable children in London were notified last year, new figures show.<\/p>\n

Serious incidents involve death or serious harm to a child where abuse or neglect is known or suspected, and any death of a looked after child.<\/p>\n

These incidents must be\u00a0notified\u00a0by local authorities\u00a0to\u00a0the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel who will review them, and to the Secretary of State for Education and Ofsted for those relating to the death of a looked after child.<\/p>\n

The number of serious incidents notified across England has declined in recent years, but a child protection charity said reform and investment are still needed to keep children safe.<\/p>\n

Figures from the Department for Education show about 70 serious incidents regarding children\u2019s welfare were recorded in London in the year to March\u00a0\u2013\u00a0down from 90\u00a0the year before.<\/p>\n

Across England, 338 serious incidents were notified in the year to March \u2013 down from 405 the previous year, and the lowest figure since DfE records began in 2019.<\/p>\n

It means\u00a0there was around one notification per every 35,000 children across the country.<\/p>\n

The DfE said each incident can relate to more than one child, and not all serious incidents get notified, meaning the decline does not necessarily mean there has been a fall in the actual number of incidents across the country.<\/p>\n

Of all serious incidents recorded last year,\u00a0162 related to a child\u2019s death, and 167 to serious harm.<\/p>\n

Sam Whyte, associate head of policy at the\u00a0National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said the declining number of serious incidents notified is \u201cencouraging\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, she warned the figures remain \u201ca sobering reminder of the urgent need for safeguarding reform\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said:\u00a0\u201cBehind each of these numbers lies a heartbreaking truth \u2013 a child who has suffered significant harm or lost their life, often in circumstances where more could and should have been done to protect them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the reduction in notifications shown by the data may be encouraging, the figures are still a stark reminder that we must address the immense pressure that frontline services are facing to protect children and move the dial so that we support families before they get to crisis point.\u201d<\/p>\n

She called for more investment in early intervention services as well as the reforming and further funding of child protection services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot delay any further in overhauling the child protection system and ensuring we have the resources and structures in place nationally and locally to keep children safe,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The DfE said reform to children\u2019s social care to ensure earlier intervention will be brought in by the\u00a0Children\u2019s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, and that it is\u00a0doubling council funding for early intervention.<\/p>\n

A Department for Education spokesperson said:\u00a0\u201cAll incidents of abuse or neglect relating to children are abhorrent. This Government inherited a children\u2019s social care system failing to meet the needs of the country\u2019s most vulnerable children.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur landmark Children\u2019s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is the biggest overhaul of children\u2019s social care in a generation, driving better child protection and improved information sharing between teachers, social workers and other professionals to prevent children falling through the cracks.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs part of our Plan for Change, we are also doubling council funding for early intervention, giving thousands more families the support of a specialist worker who can provide all the help they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Independent news outlets like ours \u2013 reporting for the community without rich backers \u2013 are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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More Information about donations<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Figures from the Department for Education show about 70 serious incidents regarding children\u2019s welfare were recorded in London…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,389,69203,393,4884,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-165111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-children","10":"tag-childrens-social-care","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114642431977958671","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}