= Parents Advocacy & Rights

One in four of all children in Scotland are referred to children’s social care before their fifth birthday

22 Aug, 2023

by University of Central Lancashire (published at One in four of all children in Scotland are referred to children’s social care before their fifth birthday | Sacpa)

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One in four of all children in Scotland are referred to children's social care before their fifth birthday
Three graphs showing investigations or child protection referrals and annual number of child protection registrations in Scotland. (a) Registrations and CP referrals—child protection referrals count the number of children who had a child protection referral. (b) Registrations and CP referrals—child protection referrals count the total number of child protection referrals. (c) Registrations and CP investigations—in 2017/18, the City of Glasgow did not submit data on the number of investigations, figures for Glasgow’s submission in 2016/17 have been added to the 2017/18 total. Source: (a and b) Scottish Government (2009), Table 1. (c) Bilson (2022). Credit: The British Journal of Social Work (2023). DOI: 10.1093/bjsw/bcad079

More than one in four of all children in Scotland are referred to children’s social care before their fifth birthday, according to new research.

The study, completed by University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) Emeritus Professor Andy Bilson and independent researcher Marion Macleod, also found that one in 17 children had been investigated for concerns about child protection; and one in 38 had been subject of compulsory measures of care before their fifth birthday.

Published today in the peer-reviewed British Journal of Social Work, the study collected data via Freedom of Information (FOI) requests from all the 32 local authorities in Scotland. Conducted in 2019, it asked for information about how many children born in the year ending 31 July 2013 had reached the various stages of the child protection process before their fifth birthday.

“It shows that a family’s chance of being investigated for abuse depends very much on where you live. This matters because a wide range of research and Scotland’s own Care Review shows how families and children are harmed by being investigated unnecessarily,” says UCLan Emeritus Professor of Social Work Andy Bilson.”

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