THE number of phone calls to the NSPCC by child witnesses of the most serious cases of domestic abuse jumped by a quarter over the last year, the charity revealed today.

And despite the rising number of children “at high risk” from domestic abuse, help for them is “not in place,” it warned.

In 2018-19 the number of calls the charity referred to the police or local authorities rose to 6,642 — up from 5,322 the year before.

But local authorities are currently not under any legal obligation to provide support to children living with domestic abuse, even if they receive a referral. 

The NSPCC is calling on the government to include statutory duties on councils to support families in the Domestic Abuse Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament.

The charity’s senior policy officer Emily Hilton said that the Bill in its current form “fails” to safeguard children.

“Our helpline is increasingly having to raise the alarm with local authorities about children living with domestic abuse,” she said. 

“But without legal recognition of the impact domestic abuse has on children and a duty on local authorities to provide support services, the help they need is just not in place.”

She said that the government was “missing a landmark opportunity to transform the way we help young people recover from the trauma of abuse.”

The Bill has also faced criticism from women’s rights groups for overlooking migrant and BAME victims of domestic abuse. 

Women for Refugee Women has warned that the Bill does not contain safeguards for women who fear to report abuse because of their immigration status.

The Home Office claimed that children “will benefit” from a number of measures in the Bill.