The NSPCC has referred itself to the charity regulator after admitting it failed to flag high-risk Childline cases to the police and local authorities.

An internal review found that over a six-month period, 37 contacts from children categorised as high-risk – which includes reports of physical and sexual abuse, neglect and suicidal thoughts – were not passed on to the relevant authorities.

Chris Sherwood, chief executive of the NSPCC, which runs Childline, said the charity was “truly sorry” and that the organisation had “fallen below the standards we set for ourselves”.

“We operate to a high confidentiality threshold, but in a number of cases children should have been referred to the relevant local authority or the police and that didn’t happen at the time, so we’ve had to make a retrospective disclosure,” he said.

“That means a number of children might not have received the immediate support they should have had, and deserve to have, and on behalf of everyone at Childline, we’re truly sorry.”

Sherwood said the NSPCC had sent a serious incident report to the Charity Commission, which regulates the sector, about the findings and was providing better guidance to staff and volunteers about when referrals were needed.

Childline has also closed down some of its online services, including an online message board, where it was “hard to provide immediate support and oversight”, Sherwood said.

“We would love to be able to restore that service, because we know it meets the needs of a particular cohort such as LGBTQ+ and neurodiverse children, but we need to be assured of the safeguarding protocols around it,” he said.

The NSPCC said it commissioned a “root and branch review” of its Childline service in October, after one case of a failure to disclosure came to light – this review unearthed the 37 cases.

Childline, a free, 24/7 counselling service for children in the UK, was founded 40 years ago and last year was contacted by young people 171,000 times.

Of all the communication it receives from children, 60% comes via web chat, 30% via phone calls and 10% via email.

All conversations remain confidential, apart from cases where a young person is at “immediate risk”, in which case the information is passed on to local authority social services or the police. In 2025-26, Childline made 6,011 such referrals.

“We have to make those difficult judgments at times where we think it’s in the best interest of that young person,” said Sherwood. “There are times where we need to break that promise of confidentiality because a young person has told us something that’s so serious or that they’re at immediate risk.”

Sherwood said cases that would trigger a referral included suicidal ideation, cases involving physical, emotional or sexual abuse, or cases of neglect.

The charity said it was unable to comment on what issues were involved in the 37 identified cases where it had failed to make a referral, but that in the “vast majority” they had been reassured the child was now being supported.

It has since implemented a “renewal plan” to ensure this does not happen again, which includes investing £7m in new technology, new training programmes for staff and volunteers, and more operational checks to ensure referrals are happening when needed.

“The thing that really worries me about this is maintaining the confidence and trust of children, that Childline is there for them. Because that trust can be easily lost,” said Sherwood. “We didn’t get it right in those 37 contacts, and we’re being open about that. We’re sorry about that, and it’s what we do that really matters.”

Sherwood said Childline was more important than ever at a time when access to children’s mental health services was limited, and young people faced increasing dangers online. Reports to Childline of online sexual abuse and exploitation rose by 36% last year, and it received 4,300 contacts about harms on social media.

“Where else have they got to turn to? Trying to get a referral into children’s mental health services when the thresholds have risen over the past 15 years, and those services are creaking, they’re under huge pressure,” Sherwood said. “So fundamentally Childline is going to be more of an important service in the future than it was when I grew up.”

A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “In line with our guidance, NSPCC made a serious incident report to the Commission, notifying us of a concerning incident, identified through routine inspections, involving a young person whose disclosures to the charity’s Childline service should have been reported to the police immediately, but were not.

“The report set out the charity’s response to the incident, including an audit of high-risk contacts to Childline, and significant management and governance improvements made as a result of the findings of that audit.

“While the charity has identified serious issues of concern, we are assured that the trustees and the charity’s senior leadership are taking the matter seriously, and are taking appropriate steps to address weaknesses and improve oversight and governance around high-risk contacts from children. We continue to engage with the trustees and we will monitor implementation of improvements.”