THE work to safeguard children in Ceredigion before lockdown will be brought before senior councillors next week.

The latest details of the local operational group safeguarding report are on the agenda for Ceredigion County Council’s cabinet members on Tuesday, August 4.

This includes details of quarters three and four of 2019-20, cover October 2019 to March 31 2020.

Figures in the reports to cabinet show that the number of reports or referrals leading to child protection strategy discussions or meetings had jumped from 75 in quarter three to 106 in the first three months of this year.

This led to an increase in the number of children being placed on the child protection register from 12 to 23, with another three transferred to the list from other local authorities.

In quarter four six children were removed from the register following review, while in the previous three months, October to December 2019, 29 had been removed.

The report to cabinet states: “There was a considerable increase in the number of referrals that lead to action taken under Child Protection Procedures during this quarter” and “the percentage of children discussed at review conferences and who were de-registered was 40 per cent.”

It adds that the largest number of referrals came from the police in quarter four and most were passed to the duty team within the recommended one hour, although a number did take up to five hours.

Initial child protection conference taking place within 15 working days was at 33 per cent, which was slightly up on the previous quarter but a drop from 100 per cent in April to June 2019, the percentage of further reviews carried out within the time-scales was much higher.

Of those on the register main risk factors recorded were domestic abuse, parental non-cooperation of Child Protection Plan and adult offences of violence according to the report, although other reasons such as risk of sexual exploitation and neglect also feature.

Cabinet will discuss the reports on Tuesday, August 4.