The latest statistics on safeguarding concerns reported to local authorities in England have been published today by NHS Digital.
Safeguarding Adults, England, 2020–21 provides details of safeguarding activity carried out by local authorities and relating to vulnerable adults with care and support needs.
This experimental statistics publication includes information on:
- The number of safeguarding concerns raised
- The number of safeguarding enquiries started
- How many safeguarding enquiries were completed throughout the year under Section 42 of the Care Act 20145
Enquiries are broken down by the type and location of risk.
The report also provides demographic information about individuals who were the subject of a Section 42 enquiry that started within the year, as well as the outcomes of completed enquiries where a safeguarding risk was identified.
The Safeguarding Adults data collection only includes cases of suspected abuse where a local authority safeguarding service has been notified and has entered details onto their system. It does not include cases where partner agencies have dealt with the allegation and not shared the information with the local authority. It is likely that there are cases of suspected abuse that have not been reported to local authorities.
Further analysis of the Safeguarding Adults data is available at local, regional and national levels through the online Adult Social Care Analytical Hub data dashboard.
These statistics cover from April 2020 to March 2021, although some data for April to September 2020 was previously published in the one-off Mid-Year 2020–21 Adult Social Care Activity report in December 2020. This publication was designed to give an early indication of the impact on the coronavirus pandemic on safeguarding activity.
