The number of children being referred to gender identity clinics has quadrupled in the past five years, figures show.

Experts have warned that the huge spike is, in part, due to the promotion of transgender issues in schools which they say has encouraged to question their identity, and “sowed confusion” in their minds.

Figures from the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), which is the NHS's only facility for transgender children based at the Tavistock Centre in north London, show that 84 children aged between 3 and 7 were referred last year, compared to 20 in 2012/13.

The number of children referred to the service under the age of ten had also seen a four-fold increase, from 36 in 2012/13 to 165 last year.

Last year there were a total of 2,016 referrals for youngsters aged between three and 18, more than six times more than the 314 referrals five years previously.