Would you be concerned ?

Commented on that before but ok

If the children are locked in the house what happens if there is a fire? Sorry it's a safeguarding risk for me.

15 minutes is fine. Hours less so. I leave my 9 and 6 year olds alone for short periods up to 10-15 minutes for similar reasons. They have a phone. They know how to call me. I know what they are doing and I trust them to be fine. Usually just sat watching their iPads.
She might be on FaceTime to them the whole time she’s gone until her husband is home. You don’t know that

'Net' curtains??

Showing your age...surely nobody has those anymore?

No comment regarding a 5yr old being left? Nothing?

If you're neighbours CCTV is so focused on their house then your neighbour is breaching data rules around CCTV...

I have 5 kids and my oldest two are 12 & 13 (nearly 14) and I started leaving them at home for occasion trip to the shop since they started secondary school. I figured that if they're old enough to walk to get the bus in the morning and walk from town to school (about 1km) then they're old enough for a bit of freedom. I would never leave my 8 year old or 5 year old with them though. Leaving a 5 year old for any amount of time is shocking imo

Wtf is wrong with you people - now another neighbour is stalking them via cctv?! Did they watch the footage from the entire 24 hours to see if another family member turned up or left? This is ridiculous tbh. If you are genuinely concerned, why don't you try talking to the parents themselves?

Wow! You must be permanently stationed at your window with your stopwatch. Maybe get a life and mind your own business?

Not having all the information...

I would knock on the door and offer that when you are in, their kids are more than welcome to come in for short periods to wait for the other parent to come back.

As someone with no family around, I often go to my neighbours for help and I'm lucky to live on a good street like that.

I don't think anything would happen if you reported it to SS unless the children were not being cared for in other ways. I spent my summer holidays looking after my two younger siblings (aged 4 and 6) all day when I was 8. A police officer came by with our dog as he had got out. It was quite clear that we were home alone but the police officer didn't bat an eyelid. They probably wouldn't be that lax now (I'm early 30s) but I wouldn't expect them to care about children being left for 15 minutes. The law is vague...

15 minutes max?
Doesn't sound like neglect but rather necessity

Time to be a good neighbour, talk with them and offer your help

I think YABVU to consider taking action for such a short amount of time. If we were talking for hours, then yes ok. But for short periods of time there is really no issue. I was regularly left at home on my own from the age of 6/7ish. Society has gone mad

I would not report them, they are clearly doing it out of necessity and latch key kids was for decades the way of life. They may well have riased their kids with more independence and responsibility than you have. Watching them come and go and standing and timing them to see what dirt you can get on them to report them is just the opposite of being a good neighbour. If you are concerned, offer to have the kids at your house for 5-15 minutes until the other parent is home, or offer to check in on them. Be a good neighbour.

Even if the 8 Yr old is mature enough to be left on their own for a while it doesn't mean they are capable of looking after a 5 Yr old as well. You just need to go on the parenting section to see grown adults cant always cope with a 4-5 Yr old.

Contact SS and let them decide. They might be able to offer some form of help or guide them to appropriate resources.

Social services aren't a punishment. They are a service there to support vulnerable /mistreated children. The parents may not appreciate the risks they are taking. Or they may not care. They may be entitled to additional support which may benefit them. This could be a small part of a bigger picture. Worse case scenario if nothing is actually wrong is ss contact the family find nothing wrong and take no further action.

Nope. not even an axe to grind. It's simply the enjoyment of interferring, helping, enforcing child protection and so forth. The thrill, for people like the OP, doesn't come from a grievance at wrong doing - it's simply chance, opportunity, boredom and a grandiose sense of self-importance.

And then what?

I don't think children that age should be left alone, BUT how can you possibly know who is in the house, unless you've got a hidden camera- they could easily have a relative or friend staying over or even a childcare professional. What evidence do you have, other than the parents' timings?

*Of course if the kids are underfed, frequently out alone after dark, there are constant sounds of arguing etc, that would worry me - but a normal family, nope, all good.

I would have been fine and dandy when 8 years old for 5-10 minutes, even looking after a younger sibling.
Not for hours, but certainly for a short period of time. There again, I have a certain amount of common sense and my parents weren't hysterical.

If it’s a matter of a few minutes I think it’s ok. I’d check what their set up is. Maybe the children are on the phone to a parent or grandparent while they are being left. I agree it’s young to be left alone though.

I had a neighbour confront me saying she’d seen me let my boys into the house after school and leave them alone while I took my baby for a walk in the pram to get her to sleep. What she didn’t know was that my husband was in the house working from home. Id sent him a message saying I was letting the boys in and to keep an ear out for them as I needed to get the baby to sleep and they didn’t want to keep walking round with me. He’d text me back to say ok and off I went, was back in 5 mins but my neighbour just assumed I’d left them alone. I’m glad she checked with me before going off to social services!