Children’s Social Work Statistics: Child Protection 2023-24

Child protection planning meetings

The planning meeting is a multi-disciplinary meeting to consider and agree an assessment of risk and form a plan of required action to protect a child. Participants are those persons essential to the child protection plan. See the Glossary in this report for more information about planning meetings and the data recorded.

During 2023-24 4,069 initial and pre-birth planning meetings were conducted in Scotland (rate of 4.0 per 1,000 children 0-17 years). This is a decrease by 51 from the number of initial and pre-birth planning meetings conducted in 2022-23 (rate of 4.1 per 1,000 children 0-17 years).

The rate of initial and pre-birth planning meetings in 2023-24 ranged from 1.5 per 1,000 children 0-17 years in East Renfrewshire and 8.6 per 1,000 children 0-17 years in Na h-Eileanan Siar.

In cases where there is reasonable evidence to believe that a child is, or is at risk of, suffering significant harm from abuse or neglect, that child can be placed onto the child protection register. This is a system for alerting practitioners that there is sufficient professional concern about a child to warrant an inter-agency child protection plan. Local authority social work services are responsible for maintaining a register of all children in their area who are subject to a child protection plan.

Of the 4,069 initial and pre-birth planning meetings held during 2023-24, 3,088 registrations were reported, a rate of 3.0 per 1,000 0-17 years. This reflects a conversion rate from planning meeting to registration of 76% (a decrease of 1 percentage point from 2022-23). The rate of child protection registrations ranged between 1.0 per 1,000 children 0-17 years in both East Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire, and 6.8 per 1,000 children 0-17 years in North Ayrshire.

Table 1.3a Number and rate per 1,000 children of Child Protection Inter-Agency Referral Discussions (IRD), initial and pre-birth Planning Meetings and associated registrations by local authority 2023-24 [Note 1] [Note 2] [Note 3] [Note 4]

[Note 1] Rate per 1,000 children is calculated using NRS mid 2023 population estimates (0-17 years).

[Note 2] The rate shown in this table includes unborn children who are on the register.

[Note 3] IRD was recorded in the data provided to Scottish Government in the 28 days preceding the Planning Meeting.

[Note 4] Shetland Islands have notified the Scottish Government of a possible revision to IRD data shown in this table. Figures included are the latest available data provided by the local authority and may be revised in due course.

Of those registered during the year, the concerns raised most often were domestic abuse (45%), neglect (42%), parental substance use (39%), parent mental ill health (37%) and emotional abuse (33%) (Chart 2).

Chart 2: Concerns raised at planning meetings for children registered during the year, 2023-24.

Of those registered during 2023-24, 79% had not been registered before. This is roughly in line with the proportion reported in each of the previous five years (78-80%) and a slight reduction compared to 82-84% between 2013 and 2018.

Table 1.4 Number and percentage of registrations during the year following an initial, pre-birth or transfer-in planning meeting by length of time since last de-registration, 31 July 2014-2024 [Note 1]

[Note 1] Some totals may not exactly equal the sum of their parts due to the effects of rounding.

When the practitioners working with the child and family decide that the risk of significant harm to the child has been sufficiently reduced, and the child is no longer in need of a child protection plan, the child will be de-registered from the child protection register.