Neglect was the most common reason that calls were made to the NSPCC helpline, according to the children’s charity.
There were 66,218 contacts made to the NSPCC helpline in 2016/17 and 19,448 contacts were about neglect. This represented an increase of 61 per cent from five years ago, when there were 12,110 contacts about neglect in 2011/12.
The How Safe Are Our Children report found that there has been an increase in contacts to the NSPCC helpline about abuse over the past nine years.
Calls about sexual abuse rose by 23 per cent since 2015/16, and calls about emotional abuse increased by 41 per cent.
The number of times members of the public contacted the NSPCC helpline about emotional abuse increased from 5,878 contacts in 2011/12 to 10,009 in 2016/17. This is a 70 per cent increase in the last five years, the largest increase of any abuse type, the charity warns.
Peter Wanless, CEO of the NSPCC, said there is a need to understand the full scale of child maltreatment: “The UK government to step in now, before another eight years go by, and commission a study that gives us the clearest possible picture of the extent of child abuse and neglect in the UK – including online abuse. This study will arm us with the right knowledge to help everyone play their part in keeping children safe: because every childhood is worth fighting for,” he concluded
