Council and social houses should have thermostatic valves installed to save young children from scalds

Social housing councils and landlords should install thermostatic valves in their properties to save children from scalds.

Temperature controlled thermostatic mixer valves for baths, could stop more than 2600 scalds in the UK every year.

Young children under the age at five are at the highest risk of bath water scalds, with those from disadvantaged backgrounds more than three times as likely to require hospital treatment.

New building regulations which took effect last year stated that hot water to fixed baths must not exceed 48 degrees centigrade.

But there is an estimated 582,700 social housing households in the UK with young children at risk of bath water scalds at temperatures higher than 60°C.

The research was published online in the journal Injury Prevention.