Nursery World - Safeguarding, Part 1: The Current Climate

Many children in need are pre-school age, but early help is being cut. Rachel Buckler, trainer and consultant, reports

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It is becoming increasingly difficult to help children in need. Schools and early years settings are finding it harder than ever to navigate their way around systems and to receive appropriate responses from services, including those that have statutory responsibilities to intervene to protect children. While the overall number of children in need has remained relatively stable over the past seven years, the number of children on child protection plans has increased by 23 per cent since 2010. The number of referrals has also increased by 7 per cent in the same period – by an extra 40,000 cases to 646,000 in 2017. A referral is made to children’s social care every 49 seconds, according to the latest DfE statistics for children aged up to 18. Domestic violence is a factor identified in half of all cases for children in need.

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