Most professionals working with children say national strategy needed to tackle neglect

By Aine Fox, Reporter28th August 2024News EnglandChild Poverty, Child Protection, Childrens Services, News England, Poverty / Austerity, Social Work

Most professionals working with children feel there are not enough services available to support those experiencing neglect in England, according to a survey.

The NSPCC said 83% of those working across healthcare, the police, children’s social care and education felt this way when asked, while many also felt poverty was a key factor in a rise in cases.

Of 700 professionals polled, more than half (54%) said they had seen an increase in neglect cases during their professional life.

Of those, the vast majority (90%) said the rising cost-of-living and poverty rates were driving factors, while more than a quarter (76%) said a reduction in community support to parents had contributed.

The NSPCC said neglect, defined as a persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and psychological needs, had, according to those polled, become normalised and that there were limited resources, specialised professionals or interventions to help tackle it in England.

The charity has called for a national neglect strategy and better guidance for dealing with neglect, as well as plans to eradicate child poverty.

The independent panel which commissions reviews of serious child safeguarding cases said the NSPCC report’s findings echoed its own data which had shown that in more than half the cases it looked into where a child had died or been seriously harmed, there had been neglect beforehand.

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s most recent annual report had also shown that in the year to March 2023, a quarter of serious safeguarding incidents where neglect was recorded as a risk factor occurred in the 10% most deprived areas in England and that eight children had died because of extreme neglect.

The panel’s chairwoman, Annie Hudson (pictured), said their own report’s “shocking figures demonstrate that neglect remains one of the most challenging areas of child safeguarding practice; it is often undetected, misunderstood, and overlooked”.

She added: “Today’s report chimes with many of our early findings, and highlights the importance of agencies working seamlessly together to identify and respond to child neglect.”

Anna Edmundson, head of policy at the NSPCC, said: “Resources and early help services that would help support children and families where neglect is a concern are at an all-time low, while economic pressures on families are at an all-time high. This combination is proving disastrous for children and families.

“The new Labour Government can turn this around by focusing their attention on measures that would make a difference to addressing neglect, particularly in the context of the cost-of-living crisis and increasing child poverty.

“We want to see a national strategy to tackle neglect rolled into the Children’s Wellbeing Bill and work to address child poverty delivered at the earliest opportunity.”

The NSPCC said it spoke to 100 social workers, 200 police, 200 frontline healthcare professionals and 200 teachers.

A Government spokesperson said: “Any instance of child cruelty, abuse or neglect is abhorrent.

“Local authorities, police and healthcare professionals have a clear duty to act immediately to protect children if they are concerned that a child is suffering significant harm.

“We are taking action to tackle abuse by investing £45 million in new multi-agency child protection teams, as part of a pilot which brings together local authorities, police, health and education to make sure that where children need protection, this happens quickly.

“Additionally, our child poverty taskforce will work across government to create a comprehensive strategy to drive down poverty.”