Safeguarding risks rise as children’s health workforce reaches 'crisis point'

The underfunding of children’s health services has been blasted as a “significant safeguarding concern”.

The Child Health Workforce Alliance – which includes the NSPCC, BASW, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and the National Children’s Bureau – is calling for urgent action to ensure babies, children and young people have access to the specialist health professionals they need.

Although children make up a quarter of the UK’s population, they account for just 11% of NHS expenditure, with major gaps across health visiting, school nursing, speech and language therapy, and other frontline roles. The Alliance warns this shortfall is leaving vulnerable children without timely care – increasing risks of abuse, neglect, and poor long-term outcomes.

In its first policy briefing, the Alliance highlights workforce shortages, burnout, and weak retention as major barriers to safe and effective services. It is calling on government to prioritise children in the forthcoming NHS Ten-Year Workforce Plan, including new investment, stronger career pathways, and integration between health, education and social care.

The safeguarding implications of this workforce crisis are stark. Anna Edmundson, NSPCC Head of Policy and Public Affairs, warned: “The chronic underfunding of children’s health services is a significant safeguarding concern. Health professionals play a vital role in preventing child abuse and neglect, but government plans for child protection will fall flat without enough capacity in the child health workforce. To keep children safe, the Health Secretary must empower health professionals to work closely with social services and the police.”

Carli Whittaker, Royal College of Nursing Head of Nursing, said the collapse in health visitor and school nurse numbers – down by a third since 2009 – was leaving children without the preventative support that helps identify safeguarding risks early.

“When children are left without access to care, it not only causes harm but stores up more problems for the future. Sustained underfunding means there simply aren’t enough staff to meet demand – this must change.”

For social workers, the strain on the child health workforce poses major challenges for multi-agency working. Long waiting times for speech and language therapy, health checks, or mental health support mean families often reach crisis point before interventions take place. Practitioners warn this heightens risks of neglect, developmental delays, and missed opportunities to intervene in cases of abuse.

Professor Steve Turner, President of the RCPCH, said: “The UK now has some of the worst health outcomes for children in Europe. Our child health workforce is underfunded, under-resourced and struggling to meet unprecedented levels of demand. A cross-sector workforce plan that reflects the unique needs of children is urgently needed if we are to raise the healthiest generation ever.”

Alliance members stress that children’s health cannot be treated as a subset of adult services. With safeguarding concerns, educational attainment and long-term wellbeing all deeply linked to health, campaigners say the workforce crisis requires joined-up solutions across government.

As the Alliance continues to lobby Ministers, it warns that failure to act now risks entrenching inequalities and leaving children even more exposed to harm. The forthcoming NHS Workforce Plan is being seen as a pivotal moment: not only to rebuild the child health workforce, but also to strengthen the safeguarding net that depends on it.