The number of referrals to children’s social services made by schools has risen by more than 50 per cent in the last eight years, government data shows.
A total of 129,090 referrals – the largest figure since reporting began in 2014 – were made by English schools in the year up to 31 March 2022.
It represents a 51 per cent rise on the year ending March 2014, when 85,630 referrals were made.
It comes as referrals of vulnerable children deemed to face risks to their development or health increased across the board following the pandemic.
In the year to March 2022, there were 650,270 referrals to children’s social services from all sources – up 8.8 per cent from 2021 and 1 per cent from 2020.
