Many of England's councils are only collecting basic information on adult protection referrals, a government study has revealed.

The Department of Health report says a "surprising" number only  record data such as the number of referrals, while there is also varying practice over the reporting of referrals.

Eight local authorities, including Brent, Essex and Liverpool, have just started piloting new national reporting requirements for adult protection in the first stage of an attempt to establish common procedures.

However, the DH admits there are a number of barriers to setting up such a system, including the use of different IT systems.

The DH asked all local authorities in England for statistics on adult protection and 109 responded.

Nearly 95 per cent of abuse reported was within the homes of vulnerable adults with physical abuse the most common.

Gary FitzGerald, chief executive of charity Action on Elder Abuse, said adult protection was "fraught with complexities", such as issues around consent.

Action on Elder Abuse from www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/fs/en