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Publication, Part of

Safeguarding Adults, England, 2023-24

Official statistics

Publication Date:
29 Aug 2024
Geographic Coverage:
England
Geographical Granularity:
Country, Regions, Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs)
Date Range:
01 Apr 2023 to 31 Mar 2024

Current Chapter

Safeguarding Adults, England, 2023-24

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Introduction and Key Points

Data Quality Notice:

Following publication of the 2023-24 statistics an inconsistency was reported to NHS England by one of the Local Authorities. The demographic information provided by Derby City Council was recorded as counts of activity rather than distinct individuals, meaning some individuals may be double counted in these tables. Care should be taken when analysing demographic breakdowns in Tables 4, 5 and 6 of the published Data Tables output for Derby City and the East Midlands region.

3 October 2024 09:30 AM

Page contents

Summary

This publication provides findings from the Safeguarding Adults Collection (SAC) for the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. Safeguarding Adults is a statutory duty for Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities in England under the Care Act 2014, in order to safeguard vulnerable adults from abuse or neglect. The data is collected directly from these councils, also known as local authorities in this publication.

The aim of this publication is to inform users about aspects of safeguarding activity at national, regional and local level. This page presents the key facts and data tables. Further chapters give more detailed information about data quality, how the data should be used, how the data was collected and collated (Introduction and Key Points chapter) and background about safeguarding (Supporting Information chapter). The Safeguarding Adults dashboard, which is an interactive business intelligence tool published alongside the data tables, presents further insight of the data including breakdowns by local authority.

Highlights

A repository of the code used to produce future Safeguarding Adults publications is available on GitHub: https://github.com/NHSDigital/ASC-Safeguarding-Adults. The code is being iterated whilst the team makes improvements until all the publication outputs are produced from the code. 

We welcome feedback on the methodology and tables within this publication. Please email us with your comments and suggestions, clearly stating Adult Social Care as the subject heading, via [email protected] or 0300 303 5678.

Adult Social Care Data Hub Safeguarding Adults dashboard

Interactive charts and visualisations

This tool is in Microsoft Power BI which does not fully support all accessibility needs. If you need further assistance, please contact us for help

Safeguarding concerns

There were an estimated 615,530 concerns of abuse raised during 2023-24, an increase of 5% on the previous year. This was a lower annual growth rate compared to 2022-23 (9%).

Section 42 enquiries

The number of enquiries that commenced under Section 42 of the Care Act 2014 during the year increased by 2% to an estimated 176,560, and involved 141,080 individuals (an increase of 3% from 2022-23).

Other safeguarding enquiries

The number of Other safeguarding enquiries, where there may not be reasonable cause to suspect the statutory Section 42 criteria are met but where local authorities use other powers to make enquiries, is reported to be 15,530 in 2023-24.

Type and location of risk

The most common type of risk in Section 42 enquiries that concluded in the year was Neglect and Acts of Omission, which accounted for 32% of risks, and the most common location of the risk was the person’s own home at 46%.

Outcomes

In 91% of concluded Section 42 enquiries where a risk was identified, the reported outcome was that the risk was reduced or removed.

Last edited: 3 October 2024 2:29 pm