Nearly 30 percent of people being treated for drug and alcohol addiction last year are parents who live with children.

Of the 625 new presentations to treatment in Blackburn with Darwen, 180 people or parents who live with children have sought help – 29 per cent of all those who have sought help - between April 2019 and March 2020.

As well as this, 223 parents who are not living with children are also receiving treatment.

Of the new presentations to treatment in Blackburn with Darwen, 220 were not a parent and had no contact with children - referred to as “not a parent” throughout the report.

The data, collected by Public Health England, also shows that in Lancashire, 1,296 parents have sought help, 662 of the parents or adults were living with children, while 634 were parents not living with children.

Of new presentations to treatment in Lancashire, 1,409 were not a parent and had no contact with children.

Head of Treatment for the UK Addiction Treatment Group, Nuno Albuquerque said: “Unfortunately, addiction can affect anyone, at any time.

“Parents are under a lot of stress and some have taken to drugs and alcohol as coping mechanisms.

“Thankfully, these figures represent the bravery of parents who have asked for help, but we know there will be other parents out there abusing drugs and alcohol- especially after such a difficult twelve months- who have yet to get the treatment they need.

“The worry is the impact substance abuse has on children, whether the parents live in the same house or not.

“Kids copy and learn from their parents and our fear is that the vicious circle of addiction for families who don’t ask for help will continue.”