INCREASED public awareness has led to a huge rise in cases being referred to adult and child social services, it has been revealed.

Hampshire County Council reports show that the number of adult safeguarding referrals in the past three years has risen by 49 per cent, while in the last year alone referrals of children have increased by about 50 per cent.

An Ofsted inspection into the council's child services judged the overall provision as good, but raised concerns over the workload of individual social workers following the increase in cases.

But a county council report argued that the rise in referral rates was positive, saying that it was an indication that poor care was not tolerated.

Ruth Dixon, deputy director of adult services at the county council, said that national high-profile scandals at Winterbourne View hospital in Gloucestershire and Orchid View care home in West Sussex had led to increase vigilance.

She said: “The number of referrals has been on the increase both nationally and locally. Part of that is the growing population of older vulnerable people.

“We have seen the national press coverage of abuse in care homes and that has raised the general public's awareness.

“We have had an increase in referrals from the NHS and a lot of instances that would have been regarded internally they are now required to report to us.”

Additionally the council report said that other agencies including South Central Ambulance Service and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service had begun to report more cases to the council.

An Ofsted inspection in February and March of this year found that the council's leadership, management and governance were outstanding, along with its adoption performance.

Its performance in taking care of children needing help, of looking after children and achieving performance, and experiences and progress of care leavers were all rated 'good'.

Regarding areas of potential improvement the report states that the authority should ensure that social workers' caseloads in the referral and assessment teams are manageable and regularly reviewed, so that the quality of service experienced by children and families would not be compromised.

Councillor Roy Perry, leader of the county council, said: “While we are seeing a year-on-year increase in the number of safeguarding referrals to the Council's Adult Services, this is the expected consequence of increasing awareness among professionals and the public, improved reporting and investigative practices, and a number of new initiatives which 'get under the skin' of some of the more 'difficult to detect' forms of abuse, such as Mate Crime.

“We place the highest priority on keeping the county's residents, and visitors to Hampshire, safe. Preventing abuse is everyone's responsibility, and as a County Council we will continue to work in partnership with the public, and all those who provide services, to safeguard those at risk, or suffering abuse in our communities.”