The Loughborough University study, commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA), has found that Lord Laming's recommendation that all referrals to children's services from other professionals should lead to an initial assessment, risks trebling workload for social workers.
According to the researchers this rise in case load would need 6,300 extra social workers at a cost of £250m annually.
Shireen Ritchie, chair of the LGA's Children and Young People board, warned that increasing workloads will lead to more staff leaving the profession.
She said: "Every right-minded person wants to know everything possible is being done to keep children safe from harm, but it would be irresponsible to pretend that there are no financial implications for proposed changes to how we protect children.
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