Care applications up 70% since Baby P but major variations among councils

The number of care applications in England has risen 70% since the Baby P case in 2008/9 but there are significant variations between local authorities, Cafcass has revealed.

In a joint statement with the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS), Cafcass also reported that the number of applications per 10,000 children across local authorities since 2008-09 had risen from 5.9 to 9.7 over the same period – an increase of 64%.

Cafcass said: “The rise in the number of applications is significant in that it shows that more children are the subject of care proceedings than in 2008-09 as a result of changes in thresholds or policy shifts, rather than as a result of population growth.”

The service found that its data showed significant variations between the 152 local authorities with responsibilities in this area.

Some councils saw increases of up to 500% (typically where the numbers were relatively small), while others saw falls of up to 46%. The vast majority (139) posted an increase, while 13 saw a decrease.

Cafcass meanwhile announced that it had received a record number of applications (908) for the month of April. This figure was up 20% on April 2012.

February this year saw the record number for a single month, at 999.

Anthony Douglas, chief executive of Cafcass, said: “The rise in care applications is evidence that more children are being protected in England, which should reassure the general public who were concerned about under-reaction to child abuse after hearing what happened to Peter Connelly. It is clear that we have been quicker to respond to serious concerns about a child’s safety and welfare.

“Our priority now is to develop an even safer and sustainable child protection system, care system and family justice system in England. Cafcass and ADCS are working together on a range of sector-led improvement programmes which we intend will make a contribution to the continuous improvement of services to our country’s most vulnerable children.”

Andrew Webb, ADCS President, said the next step would be to look at the data in detail and explore the reasons for the variations between different local authorities.

He added: “We know, for example, that areas responded in different ways following the publicity around the tragic death of Peter Connolly but nearly all areas saw a rise in care applications. Some local authorities are now beginning to see a decline in the rates of care applications in contrast to the national picture.

“We must dig deeper into these statistics to discover why that is the case as the figures cannot tell us the full picture of what is happening in local areas. All directors of children’s services are working hard to safeguard and protect children and young people in their local areas.”