WIREDGOV

An Accredited Official Statistics Publication

Child protection statistics were published on 31 March 2026. These statistics cover data collected from local authorities in Scotland on child protection processes, for the reporting year 01 August 2024 – 31 July 2025.

Key findings include:

• On 31 July 2025, 2,087 children were on the child protection register, representing a 1% decrease on 2024 (2,111) and a 24% decrease on 2015 (2,741).
• During the year, 3,023 children were registered onto the child protection register, representing a 4% decrease on 2023-24 (3,164) and a 35% decrease on 2014-15 (4,401).
• During 2024-25, 17,336 children were subject of an inter-agency referral discussion in Scotland (rate of 17.0 per 1,000 children 0-17 years).
• Around half (48%) of children added to the child protection register in 2024-25 lived in one of the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland. This compares to 5% in the 20% least deprived areas in Scotland. This is similar to the pattern observed in 2023-24.
• The most common concerns identified at child protection planning meetings for children registered during the year were domestic abuse (44% of children registered), neglect (43% of children registered), parental substance use (38% of children registered), parental mental ill health (38% of children registered), and emotional abuse (32% of children registered). These concerns have remained the most common concerns raised over recent years with domestic abuse being the main concern raised at planning meetings since 2021.
• 3,051 children were de-registered from the child protection register in 2024-25. This is a decrease of 3% compared to 2023-24 and a 33% decrease since 2014-15.
• Of the children being de-registered, almost half (49%) had been on the register for less than 6 months, the same proportion as in the previous year. A further 35% of children had been on the register for between 6 months and a year, compared to 37% in 2023-24.
• During 2024-25, 329 initial and review care and risk management meetings were recorded. The concerns noted most in these meetings were violence (61% of meetings), substance use (39% of meetings), non-violent offences (36% of meetings), unauthorised absences (29% of meetings) and victimisation (26% of meetings).

Background

This report is part of the Children’s Social Work Statistics publication series. The data used to produce the statistics was collected from 32 local authorities across Scotland. The figures refer to the reporting year 01 August 2024 to 31 July 2025.

Child protection refers to a range of processes involved in considering, assessing, planning, and taking necessary action to protect a child from abuse or neglect. The statistics included in the publication cover child protection inter-agency referral discussions, planning meetings, registrations, de-registrations as well as data on care and risk management.

The full statistical publication is available with the Excel tables at the following link: Children's Social Work Statistics

Official statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.