Childline and NSPCC Helpline statistics
Data about calls and contacts to our helpline services
Childline provides confidential support to children and young people every day. And the NSPCC Helpline is there for anyone concerned about a child - whether that's parents or carers looking for advice or professionals in need of support or just a bit of reassurance.
How many calls does Childline receive?
On average, a child contacts Childline every 45 seconds.1
Children and young people can contact Childline by telephone, email and online chat.
Children are also able to access a wealth of information and advice on our Childline website, as well as peer support and self-help tools, anytime they need it.
When children contact us to talk about their worries, our counsellors are there to listen and support. In 2023/24, our Childline counsellors provided 187,999 counselling sessions to children and young people.
What do children and young people contact Childline about?
Childline is there for anyone aged under 19 in the UK to talk about any issue they're going through.
In 2023/24, the top five main concerns that children and young people talked to our counsellors about were:
- mental and emotional health and wellbeing
- suicidal thoughts and feelings
- family relationships
- self-harm
- friendship issues.
We produce briefings on the key issues that children and young people talk to us about, such as harmful online content and domestic abuse. These use insights from contacts received from Childline and the NSPCC Helpline.
> View the Childline and NSPCC Helpline insight briefings
References
This figure is based on an average calculated from the total number of times people tried to contact Childline by phone, by email or by online chat in 2023/24.Young person, 17, Childline
How many people contact the NSPCC Helpline?
In 2023/24, our Helpline responded to 75,609 contacts from people who were concerned about a child's welfare.
Adults can contact the NSPCC Helpline by telephone, email or via an online form.
What do people contact the Helpline about?
Like Childline, adults can contact the NSPCC Helpline whatever their worry about a child. Concerns about neglect, physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse and exploitation are the most common reasons for contacting the NSPCC Helpline.
Professionals working with children or young people can also contact the NSPCC Helpline for information and support.
> Find out more about how the NSPCC Helpline can support you
References
Professional, NSPCC Helpline
Statistics briefings series
Statistics can help people and the organisations they work for make evidence-based decisions about how best to meet the needs of children. Our series of briefings looks at what available data can tell us about child abuse and neglect.
References
