Child Protection Investigations in Scotland: A 33 Per Cent Increase in Two Years

Abstract

The Scottish government plans a more preventive and partnership‐oriented approach to child protection. However, it has not recently published statistics on the number of child protection investigations. This paper analyses data from a request for information from government. It shows a rate of 153 investigations per 10 000 children aged 0–17 in 2017/18. There were wide variations in rates of investigations across Scottish local authorities. Almost three‐quarters of investigations in 2017/18 did not lead to the child being placed on the child protection register. A small association between investigation rates and local authority deprivation suggests that factors other than deprivation at the local authority level are at play in decisions to investigate child protection. There has been an increase of investigations by one‐third in the last two years with no change in the numbers starting a child protection plan. These trends raise the possibility that concerns about the preventive approach net‐widening and leading to more rather than less children drawn into the formal child protection system may have some basis. The limited nature of published statistical data in Scotland means that policies and activities, which are carried out with large amounts of public funding, receive limited public scrutiny.Key Practitioner Messages One investigation was conducted for every 65 children in Scotland in 2017/18. One child in 23 was investigated before the age of four. Rates of investigation vary widely between local authorities. One in four investigations are likely to lead to a child protection registration. There was a 33 per cent increase in investigations in the most recent two years with no change in child protection registrations. Investigations harm families and lessen the chances of engaging them with support. ‘The limited nature of published statistical data in Scotland means that policies and activities, which are carried out with large amounts of public funding, receive limited public scrutiny’