How often do SS involve themselves?

[ExAstris]

I started officially HEing my 4 year old this school year, he's never been to school. I joined a group about HE and officialdom on FB in preparation as the HV for DS2 has said she has to pass on DS1's file to the school nurse responsible for HE'd children. Tbh I've scared myself! There have been a few posts on there about social services sticking their noses in even though I know education isn't in their remit. It scares me as several close family members are foster carers so I've met more than my fair share of social workers, and even though those are SWs on the same side as my relatives, so to speak, a number of them have been useless to the point of dangerous. Closest family member foster carer has had one very good SW, one good, several tolerable, and maybe four or five whose incompetence, lies and lack of common sense were a problem to them, let alone someone the SW felt negatively about, e.g. a HEdder. DH also had training through work where SS told them HE is something they consider a 'flag'.

Is it common for a LA to get SS involved? I realise I'll be hearing a disproportionate number of people with problems with officialdom due to the nature of the group, so I'm hoping to be told this is really rare and I'm just being paranoid!

I know of two families who've had problems with the LA (only one of them has had SS involvement, but that predated the home educating) in our area, among something like 300 families maybe (facebook group has more like 500 members but I'm allowing for some cases where both parents are on the facebook group, and for some cases where someone is in the facebook group but not actually home edding)

There is no school anything responsible for H.ed children, as school services and policies have nothing to do with them.
It is uncommon for an LA to involve ss as once again unless you are doing anything wrong they have no right to do this.
You are responsible for your child's education and apart from responding to requests from the LA you don't have to answer to anybody.
The LA need to be convinced you aren't providing an education for your child before they can lawfully do anything.
You don't have to respond btw, but it is usually within your best interests.
They asked me what resources I was using and what dd did, I submitted this annually and this was my only contact with the LA.

I home educated for seven years until my son started college this September. We were very active in the HE community, lots of activities and social meets, and we know loads of other home educators locally. I've only personally known of one family who had social services involvement and that wasn't anything to do with their education status. Even then, they were supported rather than bullied and overall it was a fairly positive process.

I totally agree with NewLife about cooperating with the LA and giving them information, maintaining contact, and having a decent professional relationship. I see a lot of people going to extreme lengths to avoid their LAs and IMO it's no wonder they get suspicious. Although I understand that some people are cautious, largely due to having read negative accounts online, it makes good sense to aim for a positive working relationship with them - if you assist them in doing their job, they're usually more than happy to leave you to get on with yours.

I got into the habit of sending a report to my EHE officer before they asked for it. That way, if they did write afterwards offering a visit, I could refer them back to the report and ask if there was anything in particular they wanted clarification on. It was never necessary though, because they were more than satisfied with my provision as described on paper.

Thanks folks. Knew I was being paranoid!