More than 46,000 child welfare calls made in a year in Northamptonshire

There were 46,000 calls from people concerned for the safety of a child in Northamptonshire in the year to April 2023

A social care team was called more than 46,000 times in 12 months by people worried about a child's welfare.

Northamptonshire's annual safeguarding report for the year 2022/23 also showed that the number of child protection cases investigated by social workers in the county went up by a third.

Neglect remained the most common reason for a child to be taken into care.

One councillor said more needed to be done to support families with problems.

The annual safeguarding report was complied by a partnership of agencies including health, police and social care.

It said social workers carried out 3,473 child protection inquiries in Northamptonshire in the year to April 2023.

The report said pressures on families had increased since the pandemic

The report concluded that the pandemic pushed some families over the edge.

It said: "Many families and children who have been managing just below the threshold for social care involvement have seen a reduction in support network and services available during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Additional levels of need as a direct result of Covid-19, such as poverty, anxiety, non-school attendance, poor child and adult mental health, loss and bereavement have contributed to an increase in the number of families requiring support due to complexity of needs."

The report said Covid-19 resulted in a reduction in services available to struggling families

The report added the pressure on families had been worsened by the increase in the cost of living, and, while this was a national problem, Northamptonshire has "an underdeveloped early help offer which presents additional complexity in terms of availability of the support."

The report documented the establishment of a neglect sub group to monitor the extent of neglect in the county and work out how the different agencies should respond to it.

The report was discussed this week by West Northamptonshire Council's cabinet.

Liberal Democrat councillor Sally Beardsworth asked why so many children were still being taken into care

The NN Journal reported that, Sally Beardsworth, a Liberal Democrat councillor, highlighted the issue of a two-year-old child who had been in hospital since they were born because the right care could not be put in place for them.

She said: "It is not a normal existence for a child to be in hospital for that length of time.

"Why is this still happening in this day and age? We should be having things in place to prevent children coming into care."

Colin Foster, chief executive of Northamptonshire Children's Trust, told the BBC in November that there had been "lots of improvements" in services for children but "there's still work to do".

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