Domestic abuse referrals rise
There was an average of 669 referrals a day from police to children’s services about domestic abuse in 2020-21, analysis by the NSPCC has found.
Police made almost 245,000 referrals to social services for domestic abuse, an 8% increase on the previous year, with the charity fearing this could be the tip of the iceberg.
The [...]
Children at risk of CSE as councils and police fail to keep pace with change
Police and local authorities are failing to keep pace with the changing nature of child sexual exploitation by networks, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has warned.
Many children are being raped or sexually assaulted repeatedly over a period of months or even years as children are being sexually exploited by networks in all [...]
Three quarters of children on remand did not receive custodial sentence
Almost three quarters of children remanded to custody did not receive a prison term following sentencing.
Ministry of Justice figures revealed that three quarters of children who spent time in prison on remand went on to receive a non-custodial outcome – 8% point higher when compared with the previous year in outcomes which did not [...]
More than 10% of social work workforce off due to COVID in one in 10 authorities
Around 1 in 10 of local authorities reported over 10% of their social workers unable to work due to COVID-19 in January 2022, the Department for Education has reported.
Between October to December 2021 there were no local authorities reporting over 10% of their social workers out of action, although at its peak, there were [...]
Government launches consultation to get persistently absent children back to school
All schools should have robust policies in place detailing how they will support pupils to attend as regularly as possible, the Department for Education has stated.
Plans to tackle the postcode lottery of avoidable absence in schools have been unveiled by the government and the DfE says schools should include in their policies how legal intervention including penalty notices [...]
Amendments to Nationality and Borders Bill ‘incompatible with rights’ say MPs
Plans to amend the Nationality and Borders Bill which will make a number of changes to the UK’s asylum system are inconsistent with human rights, the rights of the child and international commitment, the parliamentary human rights committee has warned.
The clauses outlined in Parts 2 and 4 of the government’s Nationality and Borders Bill [...]
