New government figures have revealed that over a quarter of social work assessments led to no further action in 2016/17. This is up by 2.4% from last year. The ‘Characteristics of children in need: 2016 to 2017’ statistics also found that referrals to children’s services are at their highest level in three years. The number of child protection enquiries carried out by children’s services rose by 7.6% compared to last year. The number of children on a child protection plan is at its highest ever level, with 51,080 on a plan at the end of 2016/17. Over half of assessments identified abuse or neglect as a primary need at the start, while at the end of assessments, domestic violence was found to be a factor in the lives of nearly half of children in need.
Children in need statistics released
