Neglect is about a pattern, not a single bad day. A child who comes in hungry once, or in a dirty shirt once, is not usually neglected. A child who is often hungry, tired, unwashed, without the right clothes, missing medical or dental care, or left without proper supervision may be.
KCSIE 2026 paragraph 29 lists the main forms: a parent or carer failing to provide enough food, clothing and shelter (including shutting a child out of home or abandoning them), failing to protect them from harm, failing to supervise them properly, or failing to get them medical care. It also covers ignoring a child's basic emotional needs, and it can start before birth, for example through a mother's substance misuse. The Working Together 2026 glossary adds failing to provide suitable education.
Because neglect builds up slowly, it is easy to miss. Each worry may look small, so it matters that staff record every one and pass it to the DSL, who can see the pattern. A chronology is often the clearest way to show it. Absence can be a sign too: KCSIE Annex A says repeated or long absence can be a warning sign of abuse and neglect.
Neglect can reach the significant harm threshold for a child protection referral, or it may call for Family Help. The DSL decides, using the local threshold document.