The charity’s freephone advice line dealt with 2,980 children’s rights issues, including 1,984 queries related to disability discrimination in education, 512 related to family law, 90 related to human rights and justice, 151 related to care and 243 related to general issues.

Of the family law queries, contact/residence issues made up 36 per and family support/respite made up 30 per cent.

Of the 265 advocacy interventions, the main areas included family support/respite (17 per cent), placements (16 per cent), transport (12 per cent), statements (17 per cent) and homelessness (five per cent).

The advice service “continues to act as a last resort for young people suffering due to continued cuts to services and rights regressions”, the report said.

Writing in the report, CLC director Paddy Kelly said: “I am in no doubt that if it wasn’t for the work of the Children’s Law Centre and its staff, children in Northern Ireland would have been much worse off in the year 2023/24.

“The environment in which the Centre operated has continued to be challenging, dealing with the denial of children’s rights as a result of inactions or actions of duty holders, including in response to the ongoing impact of the Covid pandemic.

“The situation was further aggravated by the ongoing impact of Brexit, the absence of the devolved administration in this jurisdiction and the continuing socio-economic crisis resulting in draconian cuts to children’s services.

“Budget cuts also impacted on availability of funding to the voluntary and community sector from statutory sources with the knock on effect of increased competition for funding from trusts and foundations.

“Given all of those challenges, what the Centre and its staff achieved in the year is all the more remarkable.”

Chairperson Alicia Toal said the centre’s work in 2023/24 included commencing “the most significant legal proceedings in the history of the Centre, challenging the lack of a cumulative equality impact assessment in the 2023/24 ‘punishment budget’”, which remains ongoing.

The centre launched 11 judicial review cases and make two third-party interventions in legal cases.