'˜Urgent' action to help our children in danger

An investigation by The Yorkshire Post, based on a series of Freedom of Information requests to local authorities, has shown that in some parts of the region the number of young people subject to child protection plans (CPPs) has more than doubled since 2010.

These plans - drawn up when a child is considered likely to be at risk of significant harm - are put in place by local authorities as a safeguarding measure.

Now, analysis by this newspaper has found, there has been a steady rise across vast swathes of the region with three authorities - Kirklees, North East Lincolnshire and York - seeing the number of protected children more than double in the past seven years.

“Punishing savings targets from central Government have given local authorities no option but to drastically shrink or abandon services, including family support, leaving large numbers of children on the fringes of social care without the help they need,” said Amanda Taylor, operational director at Action for Children.

“Opportunities are being missed to help these children and their families at an early stage so it’s unsurprising to see the figures of child protection plans increase across Yorkshire.

“If the Government is serious about looking after the most vulnerable children in our society, it must urgently re-invest in local services that are proven to tackle the root causes of neglect and abuse – not just hope it can firefight the symptoms.

“Action for Children currently works with a number of local authorities across Yorkshire to provide services to children in North Yorkshire, Kirklees and Bradford, supporting children when they need it the most – and critically before families reach crisis point.”

The findings come after the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils across the country, warned care in many areas is being pushed to “breaking point”.

Research by the association earlier this month found there had been a 140 per cent increase in the number of child protection enquiries in the past decade.

The pressures facing children’s services are rapidly becoming “unsustainable”, the LGA warned, with a £2 billion funding gap expected by 2020 unless urgent action is taken to reduce the number of families relying on the children’s social care system for support.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Councils will receive more than £200bn for local services up to 2020 and spent nearly £8bn last year on children’s social care but we want to help them do even more.

“Our £200m Innovation Programme is helping councils develop new and better ways of delivering these services – this includes projects targeting children who have been referred and assessed multiple times without receiving support.”