Between April 2011 and March 2012 more than 12,100 calls and emails were made to the NSPCC by members of the public concerned about a child or children being neglected.
This is twice as many as were received in 2009/10.
There were reports of children going hungry and begging neighbours for food.
People were also worried about children being left alone at home or outside in the cold for hours, or children whose parents had drink or drug addictions.
Just over 8,600 (71 per cent) of all calls about child neglect were referred to the police or children’s services.
One caller to the helpline said, ‘The mother, she's an alcoholic and she's drinking 24/7, and the child who is three-years-old is not being looked after properly. I walked into the house, the mother was passed out and the door was wide open. The child was playing with the kettle and had got a bottle of bleach.’
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