Hundreds of children across Gloucestershire are being placed in child protection plans at “unprecedented levels”.

The rise has triggered an increase in pressure on dealing with complex and high risk assessments and visiting progress plans for children.

In a meeting at Gloucestershire County Council the staggering rise of children being subject to special protection schemes was laid bare, revealing 670 under 18-year-olds received allocations.

The figure is an increase of 35 per cent as of March 7 from the same time period last year.

Members of the children and families overview and scrutiny committee at the authority noted that there was an increase nationally, but said that the 670 children was an “unprecedented number for Gloucestershire”.

A performance report said that the rise “increased pressure at various stages in the system” including the number of “complex or higher risk single assessments needed, numbers of conferences required and time taken to attend these and in visiting and progressing plans for children.”

The amount of children on a protection plan

As of December 2017: 612

As of September 2017: 549

As of June 2017: 479

As of March 2017: 453

As of December 2016: 496

The number of children in care is up slightly at the end of December 2017 from 632 to 636, and up from 599 at the same time last year.

Although the total amount of children being re-admitted to care decreased in the last 12 months at 54 from 63.

Figures have been released as the county council awaits a crucial inspection from education watchdog Ofsted, who last year criticised the authority in a scathing letter for failing children at every level.

Children and young people were also still at risk of child sexual exploitation, according to the Ofsted letter.

Interim director of children’s services, Alison Williams, said that further work was needed, and confirmed that weekly checks are in place to check that there was improvement.

Members of the committee raised concerns that the written record continued to lack in information, despite social workers showing that they did know their children well.

Councillor Richard Boyles, cabinet member for children and young people at Gloucestershire County Council, said: “Protecting the councils vulnerable children is a priority.

“There’s no one reason for why children come into care. We have to treat each unique case on the individual situation, which is often very complex.

“To help meet the increase in demand for children services we have invested in staff, reduced caseloads and improved the systems we use.

“We have also appointed a new permanent Director of Children’s Services, Chris Spencer, who joins us with extensive experience and a track record of delivering good social care at councils across the country.

“These improvements are helping us to bring stability to the service and make the changes we need to ensure that the most vulnerable children are protected here in Gloucestershire.”

Councillor Lesley Williams (L, Stonehouse), who sits on the committee, said: “Change takes time but it’s important to recognise that good practice must be embedded and sustainable.

“Progress has been slow but things are improving and social workers at Gloucestershire County Council are working incredibly hard to deal with the increase in demand.

“First and foremost we should be thinking about the children and families who use our services. But this isn’t just about the council, for real change there has to be effective joined-up working with the police and other agencies, and I believe that the Children’s Improvement Board, which I sit on, is an excellent example of that”.