The reopening of schools has seen a “substantial increase” in referrals to social services – to levels officers have not seen before – about children potentially at risk in Ceredigion.

A report on quarter one combined local operational group figures indicated an “substantial increase” from the previous quarter, and also on the same quarter last year, members of the overview and scrutiny coordinating committee heard on Wednesday (1 December).

Between April 1 and June 30, 2021, there were 116 safeguarding reports that led to child protection strategy discussions/strategy meetings, a report to committee states.

This was up from 99 in the previous quarter with 85 such cases at the same time last year.

Cabinet member for Porth Cynnal Cllr Alun Williams added it was an “extremely difficult period at the moment” with the increase in reports a “rebound” from a reduction during lockdowns but numbers had “bounced back up again and beyond.”

He said officers had said that they hadn’t seem this level of referrals before and the situation was being “replicated” around the country.

The report adds that there were 18 initial child protection conferences and 18 children placed on the child protection register in quarter one, compares to nine conferences and seven children on placed on the register in the previous quarter.

The main referring agency was the police, followed by education staff, which “just shows how dependent we are on the staff in schools for possible referrals and we have to be happy with the support that the school service is giving them in bringing those forward,” said Cllr Bryan Davies.

The main concerns were allegations of sexual abuse/exploitation and physical abuse, which is comparable with previous quarters the committee heard.