There has been a sharp rise in reports of child neglect in the UK, which will increase pressure on already stretched children’s services, according to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

New figures released by the NSPCC show that reports of neglect to its helpline have doubled over the last two years to reach record levels.

In the year to March 2012, counsellors working on the charity’s 24-hour freephone service dealt with more than 12,000 calls about neglect — up by a third in the last year alone.

In 8,600 of these contacts, the concerns were so serious that the charity required the involvement of police or social services.

“More people than ever are contacting the NSPCC about child neglect,” said Dr Ruth Gardner, head of the charity’s neglect programme.

“Some of this will be down to the public being more willing to speak out — and this can only be a positive thing — but there is clearly a worrying trend, not just in our figures, but from a range of agencies and bodies. More research is needed on why this sharp increase has occurred.”

Callers to the NSPCC helpline described children going hungry and begging neighbours for food. Others were worried about children left at home alone, or outside in the cold for hours on end, or children whose parents had drink or drug addictions.

One caller to the helpline said: “The mother, she’s an alcoholic and she’s drinking 24/7, and the child, who is three years old, is not being looked after properly. I walked into the house; the mother was passed out and the door was wide open. The child was playing with the kettle and had got a bottle of bleach.”

One email to the NSPCC read: “There are flies and maggots in some of the rooms. The house is full of unwashed clothes and mess. Their pet dog lives in their bathroom. The whole house stinks of dog urine. The young child can’t play anywhere as there is so much mess everywhere.”

The rise in reports of neglect comes as children’s services face unprecedented pressures, with more children being taken into care and more families needing help at a time of significant funding cuts. Last year more than 21,000 children were subject to child-protection plans because they were at risk of harm from neglect — up 7.5 per cent on the previous year.

Recent figures released by Cafcass, which represents children in care cases, revealed that last year care applications topped 10,000 for the first time.