Children's Social Work Statistics Scotland, 2012-13

Children Looked After

	The total number of looked after children has fallen for the first time since 2001
	Continuing increase in proportion looked after in foster care and kinship care
	Children continue to be looked after for a longer time

This section presents 2012-13 data on children looked after during the period from 1 August 2012 to 31 July 2013. Local authorities have a responsibility to provide support to certain vulnerable young people, known as 'looked after children'. A young person may become looked after for a number of reasons, including neglect, abuse, complex disabilities which require specialist care, or involvement in the youth justice system.

There are several types of placements that looked after children or young people could be placed in, including at home (where a child is subject to a Supervision Requirement and continues to live in their normal place of residence), foster care, residential unit or school, a secure unit or a kinship placement (where they are placed with friends or relatives).

The number of looked after children increased from 2001 to 2012 before decreasing slightly in 2013. The decrease in numbers of looked after children is due to a reduction in numbers of children starting to be looked after. This is not a new trend (numbers starting to be looked after peaked in 2008), but this is the largest year-on-year fall since devolution.

There continue to be more children being looked after away from home in community settings, in particular with foster carers and with friends/relatives. After previously increasing from 2001 to 2008, over the past five years there has been an overall decrease in the numbers of children looked after at home. Numbers of children looked after in residential care settings have been fairly static over recent years, but have seen a slight downward trend since 2007.

The total numbers looked after peaked in 2012, with a one per cent decrease from 16,248 in 2012 to 16,041 in 2013. The number of children being looked after by foster carers/prospective adopters or in other community placements remains at the highest level on record and, for the second year running in 2013 there were more children looked after by foster carers/prospective adopters than looked after at home.

Table 1.1: Number of children looked after 2009 to 2013 by type of accommodation⁽¹⁾

Type of Accommodation	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
In the community
At home with parents	5,924	6,193	5,476	5,153	4,759
With friends/relatives	2,993	3,172	3,910	4,076	4,193
With Foster Carers provided by LA	3,594	3,651	3,871	3,946	3,906
With Foster Carers purchased by LA	905	1,046	1,197	1,333	1,427
With prospective adopters	242	299	267	262	244
In other community	49	51	49	45	45
Residential Accommodation
In local authority home	611	620	615	564	576
In voluntary home	138	82	88	90	112
In residential school	598	471	460	451	439
In secure accommodation	102	82	86	95	65
Crisis care	18	17	13	14	12
In other residential	113	208	199	219	263
Total looked after children	15,287	15,892	16,231	16,248	16,041

(1) Figures are provisional and may be revised in 2013-14. Information on the number of children looked after by accommodation type is available back to 1971 in Table 1.1a of the excel version of the publication tables: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/PubChildrenSocialWork

When children become looked after, a care plan should be produced. The care plan should include detailed information about the child's care, education and health needs, as well as the responsibilities of the local authority, the parents and the child. A care plan is considered 'current' if it has been produced or reviewed in the past 12 months.

Table 1.2: Children looked after at 31 July 2013 with and without a current care plan⁽¹⁾

	Looked after at home	Looked after away from home	Total
	Number
With a current care plan	4,637	10,992	15,629
Without a current care plan	122	290	412
Total	4,759	11,282	16,041
	Percentage
With a current care plan	97	97	97
Without a current care plan	3	3	3
Total	100	100	100

(1) Figures are provisional and may be revised in 2013-14.

Table 1.2 shows that almost all children being looked after at 31 July 2013 had a current care plan. Ninety-seven per cent of the 16,041 children who were being looked after at the end of July 2013 had a current care plan, a slight increase on 2012. There was almost no difference between children looked after at home and away from home - 97 per cent of both groups of children had a current care plan.

Children starting and ceasing to be looked after

Table 1.3: Number of children starting to be looked after 2003, 2008, 2010-2013, by age⁽¹⁾

	Year Ending 31 March		Year Ending 31 July				Percentage of totals(2)
	2003	2008	2010	2011	2012	2013	2003	2012	2013
Under 1	268	502	650	701	753	700	6	16	16
1-4	850	1,132	1,146	1,127	1,098	1,037	19	23	23
5-11	1,350	1,537	1,463	1,485	1,509	1,378	30	31	31
12-15	1,773	1,758	1,555	1,389	1,410	1,299	39	29	29
16-17	271	225	45	44	40	56	6	1	1
18-21(3)	-	5	0	0	1	0	-	0	0
Total	4,513	5,159	4,859	4,746	4,811	4,470	100	100	100

(1) Table excludes planned series of short term placements. Figures for 2012-13 are provisional and may be revised. The number of looked after children aged 18+ was not asked for prior to 2006. A child may start to be looked after more than once in a year and so may be counted more than once.

Full data by gender and age group for 2000-2013 is available in Table 2.1 of the excel version of the publication tables http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/PubChildrenSocialWork

(2) Due to rounding, the percentage totals may not equal the sum of their parts.

(3) The 18-21 category in this table may include a small number of looked after young people who were over 21 years.

The reduction in total numbers being looked is reflected by decreases in the numbers of children starting and ceasing being looked after. Table 1.3 shows the number of children who started being looked after between 2005-06 and 2012-13. A child will be counted more than once if they started being looked after more than once during the reporting year. There were 4,470 children who started to be looked after during 1 August 2012 and 31 July 2013, a seven per cent decrease from the 2011-12 figure (4,811). The 2013 figure is the lowest since 2005.

Over the last 10 years children have started to be looked after at younger ages. In 2003, twenty-five per cent of children starting to be looked after were aged under five. By 2013 this had risen to 39 per cent, although this has changed little since 2012. There is no gender pattern, with equal proportions of boys and girls of each age starting to be looked after in 2013.

Table 1.4 shows the number of children who ceased being looked after between 2006-07 and 2012-13. A child will be counted more than once if they ceased being looked after more than once during the reporting year. There were 4,722 children who ceased being looked after between 1 August 2012 and 31 July 2013, a decrease of one per cent from the 2012 figure (4,768) and an overall increase of 32 per cent since 2005, the year in which figures reached a low point of 3,566.

Just as children are starting to be looked after at a younger age, children are also ceasing to be looked after at younger ages. The number of children ceasing to be looked after who were under the age of 12 increased by 48 per cent between 2003 and 2013. The length of time children had been looked after at the point they stopped being looked after remained similar between 2012 and 2013, although the numbers of children looked after for more than three years has increased by 56 per cent since 2006.

Table 1.4: Number of children ceasing to be looked after, by length of time looked after and age, 2003, 2008, 2011-2013^(1),(2),(3)

	Total	2003	2008	2011	2012	2013	2003%	2012%	2013%
Under 1	Under 6 weeks	26	46	35	40	39	37	29	27
	6 weeks to under 6 months	26	33	52	72	64	37	52	44
	6 months to under 1 year	17	21	29	27	41	24	19	28
	Total	97	101	116	139	144	100	100	100
1-4	Under 6 weeks	86	119	86	76	100	15	8	11
	6 weeks to under 6 months	56	119	66	85	90	10	9	9
	6 months to under 1 year	133	119	153	168	164	23	18	17
	1 year to under 3 years	244	255	442	467	459	43	51	48
	3 years to under 5 years	54	66	120	116	138	9	13	15
	Total	611	694	867	912	951	100	100	100
5-11	Under 6 weeks	144	141	94	103	107	14	8	8
	6 weeks to under 6 months	92	96	87	123	101	9	9	7
	6 months to under 1 year	190	173	192	249	239	19	18	17
	1 year to under 3 years	385	343	486	489	496	38	36	36
	3 years to under 5 years	143	206	261	238	267	14	18	20
	5 years and over	61	102	152	155	156	6	11	11
	Total	1,029	1,087	1,272	1,357	1,366	100	100	100
12-15	Under 6 weeks	151	127	73	83	117	14	8	12
	6 weeks to under 6 months	155	149	104	104	121	14	10	13
	6 months to under 1 year	217	216	209	193	186	20	19	20
	1 year to under 3 years	430	337	419	377	335	39	37	35
	3 years to under 5 years	109	134	110	130	107	10	13	11
	5 years and over	40	79	86	121	86	4	12	9
	Total	924	1,062	1,001	1,008	952	100	100	100
16+	Under 6 weeks	33	27	11	7	9	3	1	1
	6 weeks to under 6 months	92	107	39	23	31	7	2	2
	6 months to under 1 year	175	274	134	137	139	14	10	11
	1 year to under 3 years	613	656	533	517	465	48	38	36
	3 years to under 5 years	198	247	257	270	260	16	20	20
	5 years and over	163	233	381	398	405	13	29	31
	Total	1,483	1,569	1,355	1,352	1,309	100	100	100
Total	Under 6 weeks	440	460	299	309	372	11	6	8
	6 weeks to under 6 months	421	504	348	407	407	10	9	9
	6 months to under 1 year	732	803	717	774	769	18	16	16
	1 year to under 3 years	1,672	1,591	1,880	1,850	1,755	41	39	37
	3 years to under 5 years	504	653	748	754	772	12	16	16
	5 years and over	264	414	619	674	647	7	14	14
	Total	4,144	4,513	4,611	4,768	4,722	100	100	100

(1) Excludes children who are on a planned series of short term placements. Figures for 2012-13 are provisional and may be revised in 2013-14. If a child ceases to be looked after more than once during the year they will be counted more than once.

(2) Some totals do not exactly equal the sum of their component parts due to the effects of rounding.

(3) Falkirk did not provide information on length of time looked after for children ceasing to be looked after in 2007-08. 88 children ceasing to be looked after in this local authority for 2007-08 are included in the totals only.

Local authorities are required to carry out a pathway assessment for aftercare services on young people who are over school leaving age but are still looked after within three months of the young person becoming compulsorily supported. These young people should be provided with a pathway co-ordinator who assesses their needs and a pathway plan which outlines how the local authority plans to meet the needs of the young person. Table 1.5 shows the number of children who were beyond their minimum school leaving age on the date they ceased to be looked after during 2012-13. A child will be counted more than once if they ceased to be looked after more than once during the reporting year.

Table 1.5: Percentage of children ceasing to be looked after, by destination, 2007-2013^(1),(2)

	Percentage of children ceasing to be looked after in year ending
	31 March			31 July
Destination after leaving care	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Home with (biological) parents	52.0	51.8	63.7	62.0	60.0	68.2	67.5
Friends/relatives	8.7	8.4	11.4	11.8	13.1	12.1	13.7
Former foster carers	0.4	1.0	1.6	1.9	1.2	1.3	1.3
Adoption	3.2	3.0	4.6	4.8	5.7	5.7	6.3
Supported accommodation/own tenancy	5.0	6.2	5.1	5.7	6.2	5.5	5.7
Other(3)	12.8	7.0	6.3	6.7	4.9	5.8	4.5
Not known	17.8	22.5	7.3	7.0	9.0	1.4	1.0
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

(1) Table excludes planned series of short term placements. A child may cease to be looked after more than once during the year and will be counted once for each episode of care ending. Some totals do not exactly equal the sum of their component parts due to the effects of rounding.

(2) Figures for 2012-13 are provisional and may be revised in 2013-14.

Prior to 2008, table includes some estimates and some "not known"s where local authorities were not able to provide information.

(3) "Other" includes residential care, homeless, in custody and other destination.

There are a number of types of destinations that children can be allocated to on leaving care. The majority of children (67.5 per cent in 2012-13) go to live with their biological parents and a further 13.7 per cent went to live with friends or relatives. A striking trend is the increase in the proportion of children being adopted - this proportion has almost doubled to 6.3 per cent since 2007, although from a small base.

Three quarters (75 per cent) of young people who had reached their minimum school leaving age at the time they ceased to be looked after during 1 August 2012 to 31 July 2013 had a pathway plan. This is a two percentage point increase from 2011-12. 75 per cent had a pathway co‑ordinator, an increase of two percentage points from the previous year. Where a young person's final placement type was 'at home' they were less likely to have a pathway plan or a pathway co-ordinator than if the final placement type was 'away from home'. Of children whose last placement was at home, 68 per cent had a pathway plan and 69 per cent a pathway coordinator, compared with 81 and 80 per cent of those whose final placement type was 'away from home'.

Table 1.6: Pathway plans and nominated pathway co-ordinators of young people who ceased to be looked after during 2012-13⁽¹⁾ who were beyond minimum school-leaving age on the date they ceased to be looked after

	Looked after at home	Looked after away from home	Total
	Number
With a pathway plan	391	572	963
Without a pathway plan	184	132	316
With a nominated pathway co-ordinator	396	562	958
Without a nominated pathway co-ordinator	179	142	321
Total	575	704	1,279
	Percentage
With a pathway plan	68	81	75
Without a pathway plan	32	19	25
With a nominated pathway co-ordinator	69	80	75
Without a nominated pathway co-ordinator	31	20	25
Total	100	100	100

(1) Figures are provisional and may be revised in 2013-14. Figures include all episodes of ceasing to be looked after beyond minimum school leaving age (i.e. a child may be counted more than once).

Aftercare services

Local authorities have duty to provide advice, guidance and assistance for young people who - at the point they leave care - have reached minimum school leaving age, referred to as 'aftercare services'. Table 1.7 shows the number of young people eligible for aftercare services on 31 July 2013 by age and their economic activity. 'Economic activity' refers to whether a young person was in education, employment or training.

There were 3,886 young people reported to be eligible for aftercare services on 31 July 2013, of whom 69 per cent were receiving aftercare, an increase from 66 per cent in 2012. 43 per cent of those receiving aftercare and who had a known economic activity were in education, training or employment. This is a one percentage point increase on 2012.

For the young people receiving aftercare where their education/employment status was known, 15-16 year olds were most likely to be in education, training or employment, at 58 per cent. The age groups least likely to be in education, training or employment was 19 to 21 year-olds at 38 per cent.

Table 1.7: Young people eligible for aftercare services on 31 July 2013, by age and economic activity⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾

						% of young people
	Age				Total	eligible for aftercare	receiving aftercare with known economic activity
Economic activity on 31 July 2013	15-16	17	18	19-21(3)
In education, training or employment
In higher education	16	25	35	59	135	3	6
In education other than HE	60	66	75	111	312	8	13
In training or employment	54	106	145	254	559	14	24
Not in education, training or employment
- due to short term illness	*	*	5	8	16	0	1
- due to long term illness or disability	*	*	20	56	84	2	4
- due to looking after family	0	13	27	59	99	3	4
- due to other circumstances	92	221	266	555	1,134	29	48
Not known	49	71	108	119	347	9
Not receiving aftercare	131	292	411	366	1,200	31
Total	403	804	1,092	1,587	3,886	100
Percentage in employment, education or training
As percentage of all young people eligible for aftercare ("Total")	32	25	23	27	26
As percentage of young people receiving aftercare with known economic activity ("Total" excluding "Not Known" and "Not receiving aftercare)	58	45	45	38	43

(1) Figures are provisional and may be revised in 2013-14.

(2) Cells containing * represent numbers that are suppressed to maintain confidentiality. Due to rounding, the totals for percentages may not equal the sum of their parts.

(3) The 19-21 category in this table includes a small number of young people over the age of 21 who were receiving aftercare.

Short-term placements

Table 1.8: All children with a current planned series of short term placements at 31 July 2013 by type of placement⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾

Type of placement	Number of children	Percentage(3)
Residential establishment	1,175	61
Hospital	8	0
Foster placement	483	25
Other placement	248	13
Total	1,914	100

(1) Figures are provisional and may be revised in 2013-14.

(2) Due to rounding, the totals for percentages may not equal the sum of their parts.

(3) Figures include any child aged under 21 with a current plan, (even if they were not accommodated) but no open LAC episode on 31 July, or are reported as eligible for aftercare.

If a child is subject to a planned series of short-term placements where, for the purposes of respite, they stay away from home for more than 24 hours continuously, they are categorised as being looked after by the local authority for that period. The statistics for these young people are not included in the main looked after children statistics. Table 1.8 shows the number of children with a current planned series of short-term placements at 31 July 2013, by type of placement.

At 31 July 2013 there were 1,914 children being looked after on a current planned series of short-term placements. 61 per cent of these children were looked after in residential establishments, whilst 25 per cent of these children were looked after in foster placements, compared to 11 per cent in 2012. This contrasts with a fall of children in other placements from 28 per cent in 2012 to 13 per cent this year.

Cross-UK looked after comparisons

The definition of "looked after children" varies across the countries within the UK. In Scotland children looked after at home are included in the definition and in the statistics. In the England and Wales statistics children looked after at home are usually excluded. As a result, simply comparing the rate of children looked after gives figures for Scotland which are much higher than the rest of the UK. Chart 4 gives Scottish figures including and excluding children looked after at home. The published Scottish figure is at 31 July 2013 where other UK nations are at 31 March. To improve comparability, the Scotland figure at 31 March has been used in the comparison chart below.

When children looked after at home are excluded from the Scottish figures the rate is still higher and increasing more steeply than any of the other UK countries. There has been a similar, but less steep, increase in the rate of looked after children in Wales since 2006. Although England and Northern Ireland have seen small increases in the rates in recent years, the rate per 10,000 under 18 years population has remained more static. Looked after children tend to be younger in Scotland than the rest of the UK - 11 per cent of looked after children Scotland are aged 16 or over, compared to 20 per cent in England (18 per cent in Northern Ireland and 16 per cent in Wales). Given this, the sharper increase in numbers in Scotland over the past 10 years, which coincided with a focus on intervening earlier in the lives of vulnerable children, may partly reflect different approaches across the UK.

Links to the cross-UK data underlying Chart 3 can be found in Background Note 1.7. There is more information on the comparability of looked after children data across the UK: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/socialservicestats

There are additional tables on looked after children available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/PubChildrenSocialWork