Safeguarding adults: concerns raised and enquiries started, England
Official statistics
Safeguarding concerns about adults that councils in England received, and the section 42 and other safeguarding enquiries they started, each year since 2015 to 2016, from DHSC's safeguarding adults statistics.
Safeguarding concerns
640,240
2024/25 · 185,270 section 42 enquiries and 10,285 other safeguarding enquiries started
Verified against source, 8 November 2026, 13:37 UTC- Safeguarding concerns
- Section 42 enquiries
- Other safeguarding enquiries
Source: Department of Health and Social Care. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Data table
10 periods, newest first
| Period | Safeguarding concerns | Section 42 enquiries | Other safeguarding enquiries |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 640,240 | 185,270 | 10,285 |
| 2023/24 | 615,530 | 176,560 | 15,530 |
| 2022/23 | 587,970 | 173,280 | 17,910 |
| 2021/22 | 541,535 | 161,925 | 22,590 |
| 2020/21 | 498,260 | 152,270 | 16,690 |
| 2019/20 | 475,560 | 161,910 | 15,655 |
| 2018/19 | 415,050 | 143,390 | 18,540 |
| 2017/18 | 394,655 | 131,860 | 18,210 |
| 2016/17 | 364,605 | 133,265 | 17,895 |
| 2015/16 | 231,220 | 99,805 | 11,655 |
Source and licence
- Publisher
- Department of Health and Social Care
- Check it yourself
- https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safeguarding-adults-england-2024-to-2025
- Licence
- Open Government Licence v3.0 – Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Retrieved
- 8 November 2026, 13:18 UTC
- Raw files fetched
- https://www.gov.uk/api/content/government/statistics/safeguarding-adults-england-2024-to-2025SHA-256 8a64b0c7f9c19caab50042dc28018e0a304a80974d0e2c3eb288aa7a7dbbe0e1 · 31,394 bytes
- https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69c2bc9c55cc7fccb3e0dc04/safeguarding-adults-england-2024-to-2025-data-tables-updated-march-2026.odsSHA-256 b88d5de166ef767584087e4881c56ba47834850ae5f383f6b4096e960fdabe1b · 177,724 bytes
Verification
Verified against source, 8 November 2026, 13:37 UTC Run at 8 November 2026, 13:37 UTC; 30 of 30 figures matched the live source.
| Result | Check | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Pass | Provenance recorded | Department of Health and Social Care; Open Government Licence v3.0; retrieved 2026-11-08T13:18:09Z; 2 raw file(s) |
| Pass | Raw files match recorded SHA-256 | 2 of 2 files intact |
| Pass | Re-parsing raw files reproduces figures | 30 of 30 figures and the headline reproduced |
| Pass | Figures are finite numbers | 30 figures, 0 invalid |
| Pass | Live source matches every figure | 30 of 30 figures match exactly after downloading 2 source file(s) again (2 byte-identical); the headline matches |
| Pass | GOV.UK table is current | latest period 2024/25 ended 587 days before retrieval (limit 700), from Safeguarding adults, England, 2024 to 2025: data tables |
| Pass | Table 1 gives Key_measures' latest year | 3 of 3 figures match Table 1's England row for 2024/25 |
| Pass | Section 42 and other enquiries make up all enquiries | 1 of 1 cases of Table 1's England rows give section 42 and other enquiries that add up to its total |
| Pass | Source page answers | https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safeguarding-adults-england-2024-to-2025 – HTTP 200 |
Notes
- Concerns are reports to a council that an adult with care and support needs may be at risk of abuse or neglect; a section 42 enquiry is one the Care Act 2014 requires of a council, and other enquiries are those it makes at its discretion.