Children's social work statistics 2016-2017

Introduction

What do these statistics include?

We present information collected from local authorities and secure units on children and young people, generally younger than their mid-twenties, who were formally looked after, under child protection measures, or in secure care at some point between 1^st August 2016 and 31^st July 2017.

Some data tables are summarised within this publication, but full tables including extended time series are available in the spreadsheets published alongside this bulletin.

How do children come to be counted in these figures?

There are a number of ways that a child may become looked after, on the child protection register or in secure care. Children may be referred to the Children's Reporter, become voluntarily looked after or come via the criminal justice system. The diagram below gives a high-level illustration of the main routes by which children would be included. See background note 1.1 for more information.