Child Protection Statistics: 2023-24

Child protection statistics were published on 25 March 2025. These statistics cover data collected from local authorities in Scotland on child protection processes, for the reporting year 01 August 2023 – 31 July 2024.

Key findings include:

• On 31 July 2024, 2,129 children were on the child protection register, representing a 3% increase on 2023 (2,077) and a 26% decrease on 2014 (2,877).
• During the year, 3,167 children were registered onto the child protection register, representing a 2% decrease on 2022-23 (3,234) and a 31% decrease on 2013-14 (4,622).
• Around half (48%) of children added to the child protection register in 2023-24 lived in one of the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland. This compares to 3% in the 20% least deprived areas in Scotland.
• The most common concerns identified at child protection planning meetings for children registered during the year were domestic abuse, neglect, parental substance use, parental mental ill health, and emotional abuse.
• 3,117 children were de-registered from the child protection register in 2023-24. This is a decrease of 2% compared to 2022-23 and a 29% decrease since 2013-14.
• Of the children being de-registered, around half (48%) had been on the register for less than 6 months.
• During 2023-24, 237 care and risk management meetings were recorded. The concerns noted most often were violence, substance use, harmful sexual behaviour, unauthorised absences, and non-violent offences.

Background

This report is part of the Children’s Social Work Statistics publication series. The data used to produce the statistics was collected from 32 local authorities across Scotland. The figures refer to the reporting year 01 August 2023 to 31 July 2024.

Child protection refers to a range of processes involved in considering, assessing, planning, and taking necessary action to protect a child from abuse or neglect. The statistics included in the publication cover child protection inter-agency referral discussions, planning meetings, registrations, and de-registrations. The report includes area deprivation statistics for the first time, as well as new data on care and risk management.

The full statistical publication is available with the Excel tables at the following link: Children’s Social Work Statistics: Child Protection 2023-24 - gov.scot

Official statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.