Neglect
The persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development.
Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to:
- provide adequate food, clothing, and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment)
- protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger
- ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate caregivers)
- ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment
- provide suitable education
It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs
Working Together 2026
Neglect happens when parents or carers are unable to meet a child's needs. Sometimes this is because they don't have the skills or support they need, and sometimes it's down to problems such as mental health issues, drug and alcohol problems or poverty. Sometimes it is obvious - where a child is left hungry, dirty or without proper clothing; sometimes it is more difficult to identify, but we know that a lack of proper care has a long-lasting effect on physical and mental wellbeing.
Housing and money worries can put a lot of stress on parents. This can stop them being able to provide the practical and emotional support that children need, which can lead to neglect. It may be that families can be helped with these issues and that in turn will enable them to provide the support that their children need.
You can find out more about different signs of neglect here.
Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is about protection from violence, abuse and neglect. It says that Governments must do all they can to ensure that children are protected from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and bad treatment by their parents or anyone else who looks after them.
Poverty is a clear risk factor for neglect, there are an estimated 4.3 million children living in poverty, and yet £22.7 million in unclaimed benefits each year. The NSPCC have produced this leaflet which includes help with cutting the cost of keeping warm, a benefits calculator and the offer of a free carbon monoxide alarm for each household.
Training available from OSCP
Our one day neglect course offers an opportunity to explore the issues relating to the neglect of children. There are 10 sessions available over the course of a year with online or in person options.
We also provide monthly neglect deep dive sessions which look in greater depth at key issues such as the neglect of babies and very young children, neglect in large families, and the intersectionality between neglect and domestic abuse.
The Graded Care Profile 2 (GCP2) is an evidence-based assessment tool that helps practitioners measure the quality of care provided by a parent or carer in meeting their child’s needs, particularly where there are concerns about neglect. A review of OSCP delivery of the GCP2 Training for Practitioners resulted in Cornwall Council's Children and Families Service assuming responsibility to deliver GCP2 training as part of their core curriculum, whilst OSCP agreed to deliver a multi-agency toolkit of resources.
These Multi-Agency Neglect Resources are coming soon and will include
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- Brief Multi-agency guidance
- A multi-agency checklist tool
- A prerecorded video presentation
Further Reading & Resources
- We have developed the Neglect Strategy which can be accessed here.
- We have also recently published a learning briefing following a multi-agency case audit focused on neglect in large family groups, you can access the briefing here.
- The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel have developed a Learning Hub which provides key information from national and local learning from reviews including statistics, info-graphics, online learning and videos around the topic of neglect - you can view the resources here.