The Government collect data on children who became the subject of a child protection plan. In the past this has also meant being placed on a child protection register, although these arrangements are now being altered. Figures are available for the years ending 31 March 1990 to 2001 under the category of physical injury and for years ending 31 March 2002 to 2007 under the category of physical abuse. This information is provided by local authorities and includes cases of children suffering, or at risk of suffering significant harm from parents and carers (though it will also include other cases such as those where parents are unable to protect children from others posing a risk of harm to them). This information is set out in the following tables.
Up until year ending 31 March 2001 physical injury was recorded and could also be identified in cases where concerns about children included a mix of different categories. After that point, local authorities ceased reporting mixed categories separately so figures from year ending 31 March 2002 onwards are only available for registrations and child protection plans that are attributed to physical abuse as a single category. In the same year, there was also a change to the registration category where physical injury was redefined as physical abuse. As a result of this change in definition, the figures reported in year ending 31 March 2002 onwards for physical abuse may not be wholly comparable to the figures reported for ‘physical injury alone’ in preceding years.
Number Percentage2 2007 5,100 15 2006 5,100 16 2005 5,500 18 2004 5,700 19 2003 5,700 19 2002 5,300 19 1 A child may be registered more than once during the year. 2 Percentage of children who became the subject of a child protection plan as a direct result of physical abuse. Excludes children who are subject to multiple forms of abuse including physical abuse.
Physical injury alone Percentage2 Total physical injury3 Percentage4 2001 5,800 22 8,000 30 2000 6,700 23 9,500 32 1999 7,000 23 9,400 31 1998 7,500 25 8,000 33 1997 8,400 29 10,800 38 1996 8,600 30 10,700 38 1995 10,400 34 12,300 40 1994 9,700 34 11,400 40 1993 8,400 34 9,800 40 1992 6,300 26 7,100 29 1991 6,000 21 6,700 24 1990 6,300 24 7,100 26 1 A child may be registered more than once during the year. 2 Expressed as a percentage of the total children who became the subject of a child protection plan. 3 Includes children who have suffered physical injury in conjunction with other categories of abuse. Children may be counted more than once in these mixed categories. 4 Percentage of children who became the subject of a child protection plan as a result of physical injury alone or in conjunction with other reported forms of abuse.