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.
Inter-agency referral discussions (IRD)
The inter-agency referral discussion is the start of the formal process of information sharing, assessment, analysis and decision-making following reported concern to police, health or social work about abuse or neglect of a child under the age of 18 years. This may be in relation to familial and non-familial concerns. This may include discussion of concern relating to siblings or other children within the same context and can refer to an unborn baby that may be exposed to current or future risk.
This is the first year that data on interagency referral discussions have been included in these statistics. In the first year of data collection, data were provided by 31 local authority areas but were unavailable in Aberdeenshire. This means that total figures do not account for the inter-agency referrals conducted within Aberdeenshire during the year.
During 2023-24, 17,901 children were subject of an inter-agency referral discussion in Scotland (rate of 17.7 per 1,000 children 0-17 years).
During 2023-24, the rate of inter-agency referrals ranged from 5.8 per 1,000 children 0-17 years in Highland to 37.6 per 1,000 children 0-17 years in both Orkney Islands and West Dunbartonshire.