The data obtained by the charity through a Freedom of Information request to police forces in England shows there were 26,307 child cruelty and neglect offences in 2021/22 – an average of 72 a day, which is a 25 per cent rise from last year.
It comes after the NSPCC warned at the start of the pandemic that an increase in ‘stressors’ to parents and caregivers, coupled with a rise in children’s vulnerability, and a disruption in normal protective services would lead to a greater risk of abuse.
The charity is highlighting the ‘worrying scale’ of the problem on its flagship Childhood Day, and two weeks on from the publication of the Independent Review into Children’s Social Care and the National Review into the deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Huges and Star Hobson.
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