Nearly half of school reports of concern now get no further action

Schools are increasingly reporting concerns about children to Oranga Tamariki – but nearly half of those reports now result in no further action.

It’s prompting calls for greater transparency about what happens to those reports once they’re made.

New data obtained by Newstalk ZB shows the number of Reports of Concern made by schools has risen 27% in five years – from 9825 in 2020 to 12,525 last year.

At the same time, the proportion resulting in no further action has jumped from 36% to 47.5%.
Children’s Commissioner Jane Searle said the increase showed schools were increasingly becoming the frontline for identifying concerns about children.

She said “it’s pleasing” to see schools making reports, because teachers are often among the first to see problems.

“Teachers are the ones that are seeing some of these issues very early, and they’re the ones that can help identify issues early.”

Searle believes there are several factors behind the rise, including schools seeing more serious and complex issues among their students and increased training for teachers on identifying and responding to safety concerns.

But she said the increase in reports also highlighted gaps in the wider child protection system.
“What we need to know is that when a report of concern is made and it meets the threshold for further action, that that action is taken,” she said.

“There’s a lot of work being done to ensure that happens, but we do know we are not where we need to be with it.”

Oranga Tamariki’s faced a lot of public scrutiny in recent years, with the Chief Ombudsman calling for changes after unearthing “extremely distressing” stories in a 2019-2023 report.

A public inquiry into the handling of the Tom Phillips case identified a series of failings by Oranga Tamariki this year.

Oranga Tamariki said a report being recorded as no further action did not necessarily mean no action was taken, as families could be referred to other services following an initial assessment.

But the agency said it had not analysed why the proportion of reports resulting in no further action had increased.

It said the rise could partly reflect greater awareness of child maltreatment and increased reporting, while duplicate reports and changes in how concerns were recorded may also have contributed.

Reports of Concern from all sources rose 38.6% between 2020 and 2025 – a bigger increase than the rise in reports from schools.

Oranga Tamariki said the changing proportion of no-further-action decisions was not necessarily concerning on its own, with decisions requiring supervisor approval and subject to quality assurance.

The increase was particularly pronounced in Canterbury.

Reports managed by Oranga Tamariki’s Canterbury offices rose 53% between 2020 and 2025 – from 1304 to 2098.

Of the 2025 reports, 1368 were recorded as requiring no further action.

Oranga Tamariki cautioned the regional figures did not necessarily represent reports originating from Canterbury schools, as they were based on the office that handled each report.

Canterbury Primary Principals Association president Lisa Dillon-Roberts said schools were seeing more social concerns in their communities, with cost-of-living pressures potentially contributing.
She said principals were also more willing to make Reports of Concern and work with Oranga Tamariki.

Reports could be made after a child disclosed witnessing violence or inappropriate behaviour, or when schools believed a child was unsafe at home, particularly because of care or neglect.

But Dillon-Roberts said schools did not always know what happened after a report was made.
Canterbury principals were now working with Oranga Tamariki on systems to improve transparency and ensure schools were told what was happening.

“We’re working with Oranga Tamariki in Canterbury to look at some of those open and transparent systems around principals being told and followed up with around what is actually happening,” she said.

She said a report might not meet Oranga Tamariki’s threshold for further action, or other agencies might already be involved – but schools needed to know that.

Dillon-Roberts also said Oranga Tamariki was struggling with a lack of social workers.

“I know that the system is overwhelmed because of a lack of social workers being able to be appointed to these positions,” she said.

She said a fully resourced service was needed.

“Obviously in five to 10 years, a fully-resourced service would be fantastic.”

Dillon-Roberts said she wanted to maintain a constructive relationship with Oranga Tamariki while being honest about the state of the system.

“I’m going to continue to champion the fact that they’re willing to meet us around the table, but I’m also not going to hide from taxpayers that the system is just not in a good shape.”

Jaime Cunningham is a Christchurch-based reporter with a focus on education and general news. She joined Newstalk ZB in 2023 after working as a sports reporter at the Christchurch Star.