Concerns raised about vulnerable adults up by 80%

West Northamptonshire has seen a huge increase in concerns about vulnerable adults

New figures show reports of safeguarding concerns about vulnerable adults have risen by 80% in a council area.

Officials at West Northamptonshire Council say the increase is "significantly higher than the national average".

A senior officer has said that part of the problem is the number of "inappropriate referrals".

The figures also show that only 56% of people felt that outcomes from referrals were "fully achieved".

The statistics were presented in a report to the council's Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee and covered the 2022-23 year.

The increase in reports of safeguarding concerns about vulnerable adults is far higher than the national average of 9%.

The number of Section 42 inquiries, carried out when a council believes a vulnerable adult is at risk of abuse of neglect, has risen by 43% in the same period.

The increase is six times the national average, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

West Northamptonshire Council, based in Northampton, said vulnerable adults were not at a higher risk of abuse

Neil Cox, assistant director of safeguarding and wellbeing services at the Conservative-controlled council, told the meeting the biggest issue was recording "inappropriate" referrals alongside genuine ones.

He explained that some concerns may have been justified but did not reach the safeguarding threshold and should have been sent to a different department.

"The positive is, once we really got into the data and understood the effect of those inappropriate referrals, we were able to rule out the possibility that our vulnerable adults were at a higher risk of abuse," he said.

The council said part of the problem was a high number of concerns that did not meet the safeguarding threshhold

The meeting also heard that only 56% of people felt that outcomes from Section 42 inquiries were fully achieved.

The report suggested people needed to be made aware that officers had "limited powers" when undertaking such investigations. For example, the authority cannot insist that the police get involved.