Children’s Social Work Statistics: Child Protection 2023-24
Child Protection Statistics for Scotland for 2023-24 that cover data on children subject to child protection processes.
Please note that the Publication Tables and Additional Tables Excel documents were revised on 8 April 2025. See Contents pages for detail of tables subject to revision.
Please note that Table 1.5 was revised on 10 June 2025. This was to include the 2024 figures in the table, as shown in the Publication Tables Excel document.
Glossary
Child protection
Although child protection processes may be considered for a person up to the age of 18, most children included in the child protection figures are under 16 years.
Interagency referral discussions
Previous versions of this report included statistics on child protection investigations. From this year, statistics are gathered for interagency referral discussions, which are the start of the formal process of information sharing, assessment, analysis and decision-making following reported concern about abuse or neglect of a child under the age of 18. The interagency referral discussion process is outlined in the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 - updated 2023. The data contained in the new interagency referral discussion dataset includes dates of the process beginning and ending, area deprivation quintiles of the child’s home postcode, indicators of joint investigative interviews and medical examinations taking place, and an indicator of progression to a child protection planning meeting.
Child protection planning meetings
‘Child protection case conferences’ are now known as ‘child protection planning meetings’, in line with the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 - updated 2023. Previous versions of these statistics referred to case conferences, but the two terms are treated as being equivalent in these statistics.
The child protection planning meeting dataset includes variables on the meeting date, meeting type, whether the meeting led to a registration (or de-registration), concerns recorded, and reasons for de-registration. Concern categories for the statistics in this year’s report have been revised in line with the above National Guidance.
There are four types of planning meetings, described below.
Initial planning meetings
Initial planning meetings are for children not currently on the Register. The potential outcomes of this type of meeting are that the child is either registered or not registered onto the child protection register.
Pre-birth planning meetings
Pre-birth planning meetings are for unborn children. The potential outcomes of this type of meeting are that the child is either registered or not registered onto the child protection register.
Review planning meetings
Review planning meetings are for children already on the Register either receiving a regular case review, or where there are significant recent changes with the child or family situation. The potential outcomes of this type of meeting are that the child either remains on the child protection register or is de-registered from the child protection register.
Transfer planning meetings
Transfer planning meetings are for children already on the register moving between local authorities. The outcome of this type of meeting is that the child is de-registered from the of the ‘originating’ local authority and is registered to the register of the ‘receiving’ local authority.
Child protection register
Where a child protection plan is required, the child’s name must be added to the child protection register. All local authorities are responsible for maintaining a central register for all children who are the subject of a child protection plan. This includes an unborn baby that may be exposed to current or future risk.
Care and risk management
Where there is a risk of serious harm to others, guidance for the management and reduction of the potential risk of harm outlines a formal risk management process. Care and risk management is an example of such a process.