Children’s services referrals rise as lockdown measures ease

The Department for Education’s most recent vulnerable children and young people survey found that referrals to children’s services over the two weeks between 10 - 23 August were up 12 per cent on the same period over the last three years. Some 60 per cent of local authorities reported an increase.

• Related news: council leaders call for more funding as children's services referrals set to rise

• Blog: coping with the expected surge in children's services referrals

Referrals from individuals were up 20 per cent and those from health services were up by eight per cent.

Referrals from schools were down 28 per cent compared with the same period in 2018 while referrals from police were up 28 per cent.

However, at the peak of the pandemic, between 20 April and 6 May, referrals from schools were down by as much as 82 per cent DfE figures show.

Some 82,940 referrals were made to local authorities between 20 April and 23 August - down 15 per cent on the same period over the last three years.

A number of local authorities reported a rise in domestic abuse, the report states, with one saying it had set up a Domestic Abuse Hub and freephone number in response to this.

Others said more complex cases had been reported. One local authority which has seen an increase in complexity said it had received “several cases needing urgent legal intervention”.

The report adds: “Local authorities also said they are anticipating a spike in demand as schools reopen in the autumn. Some local authorities have done work to predict and plan for the anticipated demand spike, for example, by moving resource to assessment teams and strengthening the ‘front door’.”

Meanwhile, the number of children who started to be looked after between 20 April and 23 April was 3,460 - around 33 per cent lower than the same period over the past three years.

The report states that some local authorities “have seen a change in the profile of their looked after children”. 

One said: “There has been a difference in the age range of our children becoming looked after during this period being slightly older teenagers which has given us a placement challenge.”