Children in Need and Child Protection

JSNA > Starting Well

The Children Act 1989 defines a Child in Need as a child who is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision of services by a local authority.

Local authorities also have a responsibility to respond to all children who are identified as being in need, or in need of protection. This means that children and young people who are suffering from harm, abuse and neglect are quickly identified and the information is shared appropriately to afford them protection and ensure access to appropriate services in line with their assessed need.

Key messages:

  • As at 31st March 2022, the Children in Need rate in County Durham was 372 per 10,000. This is significantly lower than regional (470.7) and statistical neighbour (444.8) benchmarks but higher than England (334.3). Locally there was little change in this rate between 2018 (355) and 2020 (350) but there has been an uptick for 2021 and 2022 which is reflected in regional, statistical neighbour and national benchmarks.
  • 84% of Children in Need have a primary need of abuse/neglect in comparison to 57% nationally.
  • In 2021:
    • Around 22% of our Children in Need had SEN Support. This is comparable to regional (20.2%), statistical neighbour (20.4%) and national benchmarks (20.9%). There has been little change over time locally or in any benchmark areas.
    • 73% of our Children in Need were eligible for Free School Meals, this is higher than regional (65.2%), statistical neighbour (63.8%) and national benchmarks (56.8%). This has been rising faster in County Durham than regionally and nationally.
  • The rate of children on a CPP has increased over the last year to be higher than national levels.

 

Data report:

    Coming soon….

Our strategies, plans and groups:

The evidence base:

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have produced a number of guidelines and quality standards to support children’s social care. These can be found on the following page:

All NICE products on children’s social care

Other relevant links: