About a third of referrals for gang involvement, criminal exploitation and missing episodes in 2022-23 were re-referrals, finds Department for Education analysis of children in need data
Children experiencing extra-familial harms have the highest rates of re-referral to social care in England, a Department for Education (DfE) analysis has found.
About a third of referrals to children’s social care regarding gangs, child criminal exploitation and children going missing in 2022-23 were re-referrals, as opposed to just over one in five (22%) of all referrals that year.
The department’s analysis also showed that 43% of children referred to social care in 2018-19 were re-referred within three years, with 49% re-referred within five years.
In addition, the DfE found that children tended to face higher levels of intervention on re-referral, compared with initial referrals.
Needs that are more common in re-referrals
The DfE’s report was based on analysis of its annual children in need census, which tracks councils’ children’s social care activity other than in relation to the care system. This includes the factors of need identified following child and family assessments.
The analysis identified that there were several needs that were more common among re-referrals than initial referrals.
For example, mental health concerns, whether in relation to the child, a parent or another person, were identified in 40% of initial referrals and 45% of re-referrals.
Domestic abuse was present in 39% of re-referrals, 36% of initial referrals where the child was later re-referred and 35% of initial referrals where the child was not re-referred.
Emotional abuse, drug misuse, alcohol misuse and neglect were also among factors that more likely to be identified in re-referrals than initial referrals.
By contrast, physical and sexual abuse were more commonly identified in initial referrals – when the child was not subsequently re-referred – than in re-referrals.
Highest re-referral rates for harms outside the home
The factors with the highest re-referral rates in 2022-23 were all related to harms outside of the home.
A third (33%) of all referrals for each of gang-related concerns and child criminal exploitation, 32% for children going missing, 30% for socially unacceptable behaviour and 29% for child sexual exploitation were re-referrals.
This was true of 28% of drug or alcohol misuse referrals, 27% of emotional abuse or neglect referrals and a quarter of mental health or domestic abuse referrals. For physical abuse, the re-referral rate was 22%, while for sexual abuse it was 19%.
Re-referred children face higher level of intervention
The data also revealed that levels of intervention, in 2022-23, were generally higher for re-referrals than for initial referrals of children who were subsequently re-referred.
For just under half (48%) of the latter group, the highest level of intervention was no further action (21%) or being assessed as not in need (27%), while this was true of 36% of re-referrals (17% for no further action, 19% for assessed as not in need).
While a third of each group had a child in need plan as their highest level of intervention, 11% of re-referrals reached the level of a child protection plan, compared with 1% of initial referrals where the child was subsequently re-referred.
Source: Community Care, Mithran Samuel
