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There could be more than twice as many child deaths from maltreatment in the UK than official records state, according to a United Nations Children’s Fund report, writes Clare Jerrom.

Previously published data credits the UK with one of the lowest rates of child deaths through maltreatment, but the Unicef study reveals that these figures could under-represent the true situation.

The study combines national totals of child deaths from known abuse and neglect with those child deaths that are recorded as being of  “undetermined cause”. The charity assumes that when no cause can be established, the death is likely to have been caused by maltreatment that cannot be proved in court.

In the UK this more than doubles the death rate from 0.4 deaths per 100,000 children to 0.9 deaths per 100,000 children, and the report states that two children under 15 die from maltreatment in the UK each week.

The report highlights that 80 per cent of child abusers are the biological parents and poverty, stress, drug and alcohol abuse appear to be the factors most closely associated with child abuse and neglect.

'Child Maltreatment Deaths in Rich Nations'