 based on the proportion of the England population. SP9 data show parental mental health, alcohol misuse and drug misuse as assessment factors have been rising since 2021–22. While two-thirds of survey respondents reported that domestic abuse had driven increased safeguarding demand over the last two years, data returns show domestic abuse decreased slightly as a factor in children’s social care assessments (Figure 2), having substantially increased since SP4 started reporting on this in 2013–14. 19 For the first time in the SP series, the most frequently reported assessment factor in children’s social care was parental mental health. This has been on a sharp upward trajectory in recent years (Figure 2), with a 10% increase in assessments in which parental mental health was the main presenting need between phases 8 and 9 of this research. Three-quarters of survey respondents reported that issues arising from deterioration in parental mental health had increased pressures on their services over the past two years. Increased stress levels and unmet needs of parents were seen to impact on parental functioning. For the majority of parents we work with, we are increasingly seeing parents employing maladaptive and dangerous strategies to manage their own needs. (Survey, Unitary, South West Region) Two-thirds of survey respondents said that parental alcohol misuse and substance misuse had intensified the pressure on services in the past two years, particularly the use of Class A drugs, including cocaine and opiates. These data reflect research showing that problematic alcohol and substance use both rose during the pandemic and do not show signs of returning to pre-pandemic levels (Roberts et al., 2021). Survey respondents and DCS interviews alike described increased numbers of