All data in this release is based on single notifiable incidents. In some instances, a notification can relate to more than one child; when this happens, the characteristic information is based on one child only (either the first child listed on the notification or the child who the harm relates to). Therefore, in some instances, the characteristics information doesn’t always relate to all children involved in the serious incident and this should be considered when interpreting the figures. The characteristics information is identified as at the point of notification.
DfE is aware that, in some instances, not all incidents that meet the definition for a serious incident are notified. It is not possible to ascertain whether the fall in 2025 reflects a decrease in serious incidents or whether fewer notifications were reported compared with earlier years.
Comparisons between characteristics data over time and between different characteristics in any given year should be made with caution due to the small sizes of some breakdowns.
The figures on the children in need population (excluding unborn children) are from the latest (at the time of release) 2024 Children in need statistics, produced by DfE. Children in need are those assessed as needing help and protection from children's social care services as a result of risks to their development or health.
Serious incident notifications by age
The annual decrease in the year to 31 March 2025, in total notifications (down 67) was mainly driven by falls in notifications for children aged under 1 (down 31) and those aged 16 and over (down 25).
The decrease between 2019 and 2025 in total notifications (down 160) was also driven by falls in notifications for under 1s (down 62) and those aged 16 and over (down 27), as well as a fall in those aged 11 to 15 (down 25). There was also a decrease in notifications for those with unknown age (down 36), although this is attributable, at least in part, to improved recording of data, with just one notification having unknown age in 2025 (no more than 5 notifications have had unknown age in a given year since 2019).
Despite the fall in notifications for under 1s, this remained the most common age group in 2025, accounting for 30% of notifications. In comparison, at 4%, under 1s accounted for a much smaller proportion of the Children in need population.
Serious incident notifications by gender
Data on sex will be collected from 1 April 2025 and will be reported on in the next year to 31 March 2026 release.
Among both males and females, total notifications decreased between 2024 and 2025 and between 2019 and 2025. The decreases were larger for males (down 41 and 101 respectively) than for females (down 23 and 55 respectively).
In 2025, males continued to be the most common gender, accounting for 52% of all notifications. Similarly, at 56%, males are also over-represented in the Children in need population. Three or 0.9% of notifications related to transgender children in 2025.
Serious incident notifications by ethnicity
In 2025, based on notifications with a known ethnicity, 31% related to ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities), which is the same proportion as the most recent Children in need figure (31%), but slightly higher than the figure among children (aged 0 to 17) from the 2021 census (opens in a new tab) (27%).
Serious incident notifications by disability status
Comparisons are made with 2020, not 2019, as there is likely to be an undercount in the number of notifications in 2019 recorded with a disability status of not known (with a corresponding overcount in the number of notifications recorded as involving children with no disability).
Based on notifications with a known disability status, around 1 in 5 (20%) involved a child with a disability in 2025, up from around 1 in 7 in 2020 (15%).