Would you be concerned ?

@Ponoka7 I agree. A mature 8 year old is more than capable of being left to their own devices for a while, rather than being made to join in against their wishes/abilities.

Maybe this is why we have so many completely useless and incapable teens and young adults who couldn't think for themselves if their lives depended on it?

My GC has medical issues, so dragging her out isn't always appropriate. She gets worn out, at times. Children need downtime. My GC is an avid reader and immerses herself in books. You should allow your children to develop their own personalities. Weekends spring to autumn we go walking in Wales etc. My DD does weight lifting and Muay thai. We all go to the gym. Her step father is a professional athlete. She's led by example. We believe in needs led parenting and that's what she is getting.

So your daughter is not only a neglectful parent who leaves her child alone and unsupervised, but also one who won’t put boundaries in place, allows her kids to rule the roost and encourages unhealthy practices like hardly going out?

Excellent parenting from the both of you there 👍

Why don't you offer to watch their kids. If you go from the assumption that they don't want to do this but have no choice due to shift patterns, what good will reporting do?

I have a friend who has no choice but to do this with her 8 year old. It's not ideal but she needs a job so she face-times her for the ten minutes that she's alone.

I have worked in social services and leaving kids so young is definitely something that would concern them enough to warrant talking to the parent.

OP does not have ‘a duty to report’
SS are beyond stretched dealing with all sorts of horrific stuff that needs their attention far more than this.
IMO reporting someone to social services as the first and only intervention you take is terrible.

If you are genuinely so concerned about the kids’ welfare how about speaking with them in a balanced, reasonable and non-judgemental way and try to explore solutions. They may think you are a but at least you will not be a coward and you never know, even if they hate you after, the kids being left alone may happen less (which is after all what you want to happen).

Jesus, don’t go in all blazing and report them to social services! Eight is young but it’s not so young that they’re completely vulnerable. I don’t think five-ten minute periods is a massive cause for concern.
You don’t know the full circumstances here. Perhaps they don’t have much choice than to do this due to their work commitments and finances. Also, they may well have other safeguarding measures such as CCTV on their phones, an emergency contact on standby etc

Well said 👏

Those saying they were left home alone when younger (or even do it now) you're in a position to judge that your home life was otherwise stable, met your needs, with no abuse and you were happy to be left. The OP does not know this family and therefore has no way of knowing if that is the case in this situation. OP has a duty to report so that SS can check in with the family and support if necessary.

Safeguarding children is for everyone. In many cases it leads to nothing, children are safe and secure and loved. Sadly in other cases it does point to something more substantial, where a family does need support. I work in a school and have had children tell me how scared and upset they are when left alone at home when not ready, but parents feel they have no choice and I of course report to my DSL.

This is the case that I thought of right away too.
It's actually heartbreaking that people are so dismissive of this. No doubt neighbours in that street had similar concerns and said nothing either. It's a tiny risk but not one worth taking for a child.

@ManorHall7 if you're that concerned, another option is to ring their school(if you know it) and ask to speak with the safeguarding lead. You can tell them what you know/witnessed .

Same. I was always left in the house from a young age while my mum quickly popped to the shops, etc. I had a phone, a set of house keys, and was always told to ring my mum/knock next door if I needed help at all (which I never did).

Leave them alone OP.

I wouldn't do that...and if you remember the sad story about the two sets of twins that died in a fire a while ago it's not worth the risk....BuT even if it's reported I don't think they will do much it's not like she's leaving them all day and going getting pissed also how can you be sure no one else is in the house? A neighbour coukd be watching them.

My eight year old GC often doesn't want to move out of the house. I've (and her Mum) have left her up to an hour. Her younger sibling goes stir crazy. She has a phone and is very independent. Tbh her Mum was and still is. Over the summer holidays, she'll be getting left in while we do an hour in the local park. Mention it if you want, it might be temporary. In times gone by the neighbours a local teen would have been paid to babysit.

I left mine at that age for 5 mins to nip to the shop.

If anything happened they would go next door (either side) or use the house phone to call me.

Stop being so hysterical and leave SS to look after children who actually need help

Why wouldn’t you report it? It may be a small concern, but the fact is that it’s very rare in concerning cases for the child to come up and hand the social worker a case file of compiled evidence. Generally it’s a build up of small complaints. Teacher notices the child never has the right clothing or a full packed lunch. A neighbour notices they’re left alone at home without an adult. Parent of a friend notes down something unusual or worrying that the child has said.

All these things alone are really not a big deal. Together they can make a picture of a family in desperate need of support. It’s not our job to decide what facts are important when we don’t have the full picture. The way I see it, if you say something and it turns out to be nothing you’ve just made a mistake. If you say nothing and it turns out to be something you’ve left a child to suffer.

An 8 and 5 year old left alone for 5 minutes, safely locked in their own house, a few times a week? And you want to report this to social services? 😂 😂

Just be honest and admit you have an axe to grind with these particular neighbours.

You can report it if you want. Obviously it can sometimes be classed as neglect and a tragedy could happen,even in 5 minutes.

However , it's very unlikely that SS will actually do anything about it if the children are otherwise loved, cared for ,safe and looked after.

Unacceptable to leave children so young alone. Either speak to them or report it.

If I was speaking g to them I would let them know others have noticed and you are concerned that someone might report them.

And if any or all of those things are the case then it'll come to nothing.
But you only have to look at the endless number of cases where children have been at risk and it's been missed by neighbours, teachers etc and the first thing everyone says is, "why didn't someone do something?"
I grew up in the 60s/70s and my parents did many things differently to how people would do things now. I'm able to realise it was a different time and we lacked a lot of awareness compared to now.
My sister used to walk me to school over many busy wide roads when we were ages 4 and 7. Would I have let my children do this at those ages? Would I hell. Time's change, maybe you can 'fathom' that if you actually think about it.

Perhaps you could start to become friendly with them? Sounds like you have kids of a similar age? Can you invite them over for a bbq?

I honestly cannot fathom reporting someone to social services for this, as suggested by other posters.
If you otherwise believe the children to be well cared for and this is your only concern, why would this be your first choice?

This is what my parents had to do when we were young, it's the only way they could afford to pay the bills and put food on the table, by working opposite shifts.

You have no idea of the set up, they could have cameras monitoring them, they could be on a laptop zoom call with a grandparent, or they could be happily sitting in front of the TV for 5 minutes.

If I had no other concerns and the children look happy/healthy, I'd just mind my own business.

I would say it's a safeguarding concern especially as it's happening regularly. Legally there's no age limit on when you can leave children home alone but they're very young. It makes me think of the house fire last Christmas with the little boys in Sutton who all died and their mum had gone to the shops so came home to tragedy. Wouldn't risk that for anything. Report your worries, it's all you can do if you aren't able to talk to the neighbours.