MORE than 400 children in Swindon are at risk of ‘significant harm’ according to the borough council’s children’s services team.

Not only is that a significant increase in just a few months, it’s close to double the national average for children who are at such danger, they need to have a child protection plan drawn up for them.

A report to the children’s health social care and education overview and scrutiny committee at its meeting next week says that 408 children in the town need a protection plan at the end of June.

That’s a 12 per cent increase on the 362 who needed such protection at the end of March just three months before.

And the rate of 83.3 children in every 10,000 needing a plan is nearly twice the national rate of 43.3 per 10,000 children and the 46.4 rate of statistically neighbouring authorities.

The report says that 187 (45.8 per cent) of the 408 children need protection as a result of neglect, and 36.5 per cent need it as a result of emotional abuse.

The report says: “Swindon has a higher number of child protection investigations that other local authorities, and of these a higher number progress to child protection conference.”

It suggests that other organisations and partners of the council, such as the police and schools “have confidence in the child protection processes and are therefore encouraging the child protection approach to ensure the most robust service for children and families.

According to the children’s services team this isn’t ‘best practice and the team is working to bring in policies which will lead to a reduction in short-term child protection plans “in the medium term”.

A Swindon Borough Council spokesman said: “Demand for children’s social care services has been increasing nationally. Recent high profile cases have undoubtedly seen professionals from agencies and partners making earlier referrals for some children, while there is a greater recognition in the community of neglect and other potential abuse. It is also likely that social and economic factors are at least in part attributable to the increase.

“More than 40 per cent of referrals relate to police notifications of domestic abuse, with the second highest source of referrals from schools.

“There has been a noticeable increase in children on child protection plans in Swindon and, after examining cases and procedures in more detail it is apparent that agencies and partners are encouraging the child protection approach to ensure a high level of support is given to vulnerable children. This is due to the fact that agencies and partners have confidence in the Council’s child protection processes.

“However, it may not always be appropriate to immediately progress to the child protection stage and, following the revision of child protection thresholds and procedures, we are currently reviewing whether the social care threshold is being applied consistently between teams and partner agencies.

“Work is also underway to prevent cases reaching the child protection plan stage where appropriate, which includes providing additional social worker capacity for children in need cases. We are hopeful this work will help us manage demand in the future.”

An NSPCC south west spokesman said: “These figures highlight the tremendous pressure all local authorities are under to deliver effective services and protect vulnerable young people. We all have a part to play in keeping children safe and any adult who is concerned about the welfare of a child can call the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000, 24/7, 365 days a year.Children can contact Childline on 0800 1111 or at childline.org.uk.”