Daily child cruelty cases in pandemic

Police in the North East logged more than one child cruelty case a day during the pandemic, new figures show.

HomeOfficedatashows379 reportsofchildcrueltywerereportedintheNorthumbriaPolice area in 2020-21.

Although this was down from 459 the year before, the numberofoffencesloggedduring that time is around three times higher than the 118 recorded in 2012-13 – when records began.

Nationally – and despite the challenge of identifying some of those at risk because of lockdowns and school closures – child cruelty offences leapt by 12% to a record 25,000 last year and have almost quadrupled since 201213, with forces recording more than 130,000 crimes.

Of those, 3,136 were logged by Northumbria Police.

The National Police Chiefs' Council and children's charity the NSPCC says there is more to be done to protect children.

Pierre Hyman, senior policy officer at the NSPCC, called for Government investment to strengthen safeguarding and ensure authorities work together to tackle the issue.

He added: "We need political leadership on ensuring child abuse victims are supported in the criminal justice system."

The National Police Chiefs' Council's lead for child protection, Deputy Chief Constable Ian Critchley, said: "We encourage anyone who believes a child is being abused to report their concerns, no matter how small they seem."

A Government spokeswoman said it provided £11m to the See, Hear, Respond programme, which aimed to support vulnerable young people during the pandemic and also made £1.8m available to the NSPCCtoexpandandpromote its helpline.