THE NUMBER of Swindon children in care has jumped by almost a third in three years.

In March this year there were 332 children in care – up 30 per cent from 2015, according to a safeguarding report shared with Swindon health chiefs.

The rise is understood to be the result of social services intervening earlier to protect children.

But a nurse responsible for supporting looked-after children also warned that they were seeing a large number of neglect cases.

It came as the NSPCC said that last year in Swindon they had made five referrals a month to the authorities following reports of child neglect – up 17 per cent on the previous year.

Anne Gray, designated nurse for looked after children at the Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “The borough has had an in depth look into [the rise in looked-after children] and I think the findings were that Swindon has come up to where it should be [based on national estimates].

“So, Swindon now has the ‘right’ number of looked after children – whereas previously we had less than we should have done.”

She hinted that officers were getting better at identifying neglect cases. Ms Gray said: “The majority of children coming into care now are coming in for neglect – particularly the younger age range.”

The comments were made at a meeting of Swindon CCG’s governing body. The NHS group pays the public health bills for the 230,000 people living in Swindon and Shrivenham.

Sue Wald, Swindon Borough Council’s director of adult social services, told the meeting: “There has been an increase in demand, both for referral and early help.

“Swindon is mirroring some of the national trends. There has been a particular increase in the number of children that have been identified in younger age group and where it is important to take immediate action to secure their safety. So, we’ve seen an increase in the number of children going to support workers for care.”

She said that council officers were intervening earlier in cases involving older children. It is hoped that this could help prevent issues such as mental health problems.

A council spokesman said that more awareness of neglect and child sex abuse was behind the rise in the number of children in care.

He said: “The number of looked after children in Swindon has risen in recent years, but the increase has begun to stabilise. The heightened awareness around neglect, child sexual and criminal exploitation and the impact on outcomes for children has led to all partner agencies, inclusive of Children’s Services, to intervene at the earliest opportunity and this has resulted in more children coming into care.

“We are certain that all children that are in local authority care are children that require our help and we will continue to give them the very best start in life through our role as their corporate parent.”

The NSPCC’s Julie Campbell said that neglect reports were on the rise nationally, with the charity making almost 16,900 to police and local authorities last year over child neglect fears.

“We are definitely seeing an increase in contacts to the helpline,” she said.

She suggested that a rise in reported neglect cases was due to local authorities getting better at identifying neglected children, better awareness from members of the public and people being more willing to “speak out”.

To contact the NSPCC call 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk.