GPAtlas🧭 When to suspect
Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a person's basic physical, emotional, educational or medical needs.
• In children, Working Together to Safeguard Children defines it as the persistent failure to meet a child's basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in serious impairment of health or development.
• It is the single most common category of abuse for children on a child protection plan in England, accounting for around half of all plans.
• In adults, both neglect by others and self-neglect fall within the Care Act 2014 safeguarding framework.
• Self-neglect describes an extreme lack of self-care – neglect of personal hygiene, health or surroundings, including hoarding – that threatens a person's own health and safety.
Neglect is rarely a single event. It is usually recognised as a pattern of concern accumulating over time, so careful documentation and a multi-agency view matter more here than in almost any other presentation.
Two things matter most:
• Recognising the pattern early
• In adults, assessing mental capacity, because capacity determines whether you may act or must respect an unwise decision
| Scenario | Legal & guidance framework | Lead primary-care action |
|---|---|---|
| Child neglect | • Children Act 1989 • Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 |
• Family Help for lower-level concern • Children's Social Care (section 47) if significant harm |
| Adult at risk – neglect or abuse by others | Care Act 2014 (section 42) | Safeguarding referral to Adult Social Care |
| Adult self-neglect | • Care Act 2014 (within scope, capacity-dependent) • Mental Capacity Act 2005 |
• Assess capacity • Making Safeguarding Personal • Multi-agency support |
|
⚠️ Common pitfall • Labelling poverty as neglect. • NICE is explicit that it can be difficult to distinguish neglect from material poverty. • Balance the constraints a family faces with how others in similar circumstances manage to meet their children's needs. • Neglect is about care, not income. • Persistent unmet need despite available support still warrants action. |
Source: NICE NG76 · NICE CG89 · Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 · Care Act 2014
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