Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made on the number of false or malicious reports to social services since May 2022.

The government considers any malicious reporting and false claims made to children’s social care as completely unacceptable. It is a cruel practice, a terrible ordeal for the families affected, and can distract services from undertaking vital child protection work.

However, it is right that people should remain able to flag concerns about children they believe to be vulnerable, and that social services fulfil their duty to treat each safeguarding case seriously and to undertake enquiries if they believe a child has suffered or is likely to suffer harm. Therefore government is not currently looking to make false or malicious reports to social services a criminal offence.

The information requested on the number of false or malicious reports to social services is not held by the department.