Northamptonshire missing children reports rise sharply causing 'great concern'

The number of missing children reported in Northamptonshire has risen by 45 per cent in the past year.

The issue is so concerning that the Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (NCSP) is now undertaking an internal review to establish how the number of missing children relates to permanent exclusion numbers in the county.

Latest figures in the annual NCSP report reveal that in 2019/20 there were 2,266 reports of children who had gone missing in the county. In the last quarter of the year there were 556 reports of missing children, an increase of approximately 19 per cent based on the same period of the previous year.

At today’s (Sept 17) full council meeting the authority’s director of children’s services Cathi Hadley said the issue of missing children was ‘greatly concerning’.

She said: “It isn’t just about looking at these children as miss children, they are very vulnerable and probably children who are permanently excluded and those are the ones who people target for exploitation. The partnership is working very hard to identify those children and work with them.”

Permanent exclusions have been on the rise in Northants for the past few years, but the 107 excluded in the most recent academic year is a skewed figure due to the lockdown from March to the end of July.

According to the NCSP annual report there were 7.039 cases of child exploitation in the county – a rise of 20 per cent on the previous year. Child exploitation can involve crimes such as using children to sell drugs and being forced into gangs, as well as sexual exploitation.

Shadow cabinet member for children’s services Cllr Birch said the issue was ‘alarming’ and needed to be looked at as a matter of urgency and the councillor also raised the issue of homeschooling. More than 1,000 Northants children are now taught in the home.

Cllr Birch said: “These young people are vulnerable to grooming and abuse and violence. There have been cases of a young child, home schooled and not seen by our social workers. It is very easy for parents and carers to hide these children away from sight. I’ve been told by the social workers that visit they don’t even know if the child that they see sitting at the table with a pile of school books is the child they are supposed to be caring for. There are no photographs and no way of knowing that that child is the one that we have in our care.”

Cathi Hadley said any councillors who had instances like this were to report it to her for review.

Cabinet member for children’s services Cllr Fiona Baker said local authorities had few powers when it came to home schooling and the authority is lobbying government because ‘we need more ability to check up and see those children are receiving a good education and being properly looked after.