We’re calling for neglect to be considered a ‘national emergency’ as well as a new amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to introduce a national neglect strategy.

• Last year we received almost 18,000 contacts from adults across the UK with concerns about child neglect – a quarter of all contacts to our Helpline.
• 41% of all contacts were serious enough to require a referral to local safeguarding agencies for additional support.

• Our previous research has found that across healthcare, the police, children’s social care and education, over half (54%) said they’d seen an increase in neglect cases during their professional life with 90% saying they believed the rising cost of living and poverty rates was a driving factor.

Source: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/about-us/news-opinion/2025/child-neglect-concerns-number-one-reason-for-adults-reaching-out-to-our-helpline/