Child protection register failed to communicate more than 80% of the abuse cases!

The register lists nearly 30,000 children "known to be suffering harm". Yet new research shows that only 33 of the 189 children whose death or serious injury prompted a 'local authority serious case review' between 2005 and 2007 were on the register.

Preliminary findings from a report cshow that "the majority" of children subject to serious case review (SCR) had no child protection plan, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) said. The children were missed off the list despite recommendations from hospital staff and social workers. The majority of serious cases involved a baby under the age of one. In most of those cases, they were younger than six months old. Almost a quarter of cases involved children over 11.

The governement funded research shows a widespread pattern of missed opportunities where police, social workers and health professionals failed to communicate or act on evidence of potential abuse.

Councils denied they were being negligent by missing cases and considered the register a "draconian intervention in family life" with inconclusive investigations.