Children's Social Work Statistics Scotland: 2021 to 2022

Children's Social Work Statistics for Scotland for 2021 to 2022, including data on children on the child protection register, as well as children and young people looked after, in continuing care, eligible for aftercare, and in secure care accommodation.


Secure care accommodation

Young people are placed in secure care accommodation either as an outcome of the criminal justice system or through a referral to the Children’s Reporter. It is for the small number of children who may be a significant risk to themselves, or others in the community. The processes which lead to these placements are summarized in Figure 2 and Figure 3.

Figure 3 Children included in secure care accommodation statistics

 

Where a child under 18 has been charged they may be considered for Early and Effective Intervention, referred to the Children’s Reporter (see also Figure 2) or prosecuted in court. If prosecuted they may be released on bail or remanded to secure care or a young offenders institution until trial. If sentenced to custody, they will be detained in secure care or a young offenders institution.

Bed cost and complement

Across the five secure care accommodation services in Scotland, 84 beds were available for those under the age of 18 (see Table 3.1) – a figure which remains unchanged from the previous year. The weighted average cost of a bed was £6,342. Three of the five services reported have at least one additional emergency/short-term use bed.

Table 3.1 Secure care accommodation bed complement on 31 July 2022 [Note 1]

Accommodation

Number of beds

Edinburgh Secure Services

6

Good Shepherd

18

Kibble

18

Rossie Secure Accommodation Services

18

St Mary's Kenmure

24

Total

84

[Note 1] Excludes emergency or short-term beds.

Capacity and usage

During 2021-22, there were 149 admissions to secure care accommodation – down by 16% since the previous year. On average there were 74 residents, a 3% decrease on the previous year. Of these, 41 residents were from within Scotland (down 13% on 2021) and 33 were from outside Scotland (up 14% on 2021).

Emergency beds were used for a total number of 20 nights – continuing the noticeable reduction which started last year. The large drop in the use of emergency beds may have partly been driven by the overall decline in the number of admissions over the last few years as well as the decrease in the average number of residents. In addition, St Mary's Kenmure no longer offers emergency or short-term beds (3 short-term/ emergency beds were offered in previous years). In total, eight residents used an emergency bed during the year.

Table 3.2 Secure care accommodation usage during the year, 2014-2022 [Note 1], [Note 2]

Usage during the year

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

Percentage change since previous year

Admissions

232

249

256

248

210

217

194

177

149

-16%

Discharges

226

245

253

257

213

210

194

178

160

-10%

Average number of residents

74

82

85

76

80

79

82

76

74

-3%

Average number of residents from within Scotland

67

76

72

56

45

53

53

47

41

-13%

Average number of residents from outside Scotland

7

6

13

19

35

26

28

29

33

14%

Minimum number of residents

60

71

77

67

73

71

75

64

65

2%

Maximum number of residents

84

89

90

87

86

88

88

84

82

-2%

Number of nights emergency/ short-term beds used 

5

146

50

90

284

398

209

40

20

-50%

Number of residents using emergency/ short-term beds 

3

13

11

25

42

55

28

17

8

-53%

[Note 1] Young people can be admitted and discharged more than once during the year.

[Note 2] Three units reported having an emergency bed: Rossie School; Good Shepherd; and Kibble.

Resident characteristics and length of stay

On 31 July 2022, there were 67 residents in secure care accommodation – the lowest number of residents at year end since recording began. Of these, 33 (49%) were male and 34 (51%) were female. The largest proportion of residents were aged 16 or over (36%), followed by 15-year-old residents (27%) and 14-year-old residents (27%). Just over a third of residents (31%) had a recorded disability. For the 67 residents in secure care accommodation on 31 July 2022, the most common length of stay was between 3 months to under 6 months (27%) followed by 6 months to under 1 year (19%) and less than 1 month (18%).

Table 3.3 Young people in secure care accommodation by sex, age, disability, and length of stay on 31 July 2014-2022 [Note 1]

 

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

Percentage of 2022 total

Sex  [Note 2]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Male

52

59

65

46

39

60

44

44

33

49%

Female

29

26

23

34

43

24

37

34

34

51%

Age

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13 years old or under

5

7

9

14

12

*

5

9

7

10%

14 years

12

18

18

18

18

*

13

13

18

27%

15 years

31

28

27

26

25

21

26

16

18

27%

16 years or over

33

32

34

22

27

55

37

40

24

36%

Disability [Note 3]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes

-

-

34

27

39

27

7

18

21

31%

No/unknown

-

-

54

53

43

57

74

60

46

69%

Length of stay at year end

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Less than 1 month

13

17

20

26

10

21

17

17

12

18%

1 month to under 2 months

14

16

14

13

14

16

14

10

10

15%

2 months to under 3 months

14

13

14

12

13

9

6

5

10

15%

3 months to under 6 months

23

26

24

25

27

22

18

29

18

27%

6 months to under 1 year

9

*

10

*

14

11

16

14

13

19%

1 year or more

8

*

6

*

0

5

2

3

4

6%

Total

81

85

88

80

82

84

81

78

67

100%

[Note 1] For cells shown as " - ", figures are not available. Cells containing " * " represent small numbers that are suppressed to maintain confidentiality. Other cells may be suppressed to avoid calculation of other suppressed values.                         

[Note 2] Trans, intersex, and non-binary individuals are grouped with males for the purposes of maintaining confidentiality.

[Note 3] Since 2016, the binary question was asked: “does the young person have a mental or physical impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities?”. Prior to 2016,  additional support needs categories were asked for. 

Cross UK Comparisons

Cross UK comparisons for Secure Care Accommodation data for Scotland, England, and Wales can be found below.  Please note that Scotland totals include young people who are from elsewhere in the UK. Similarly, the totals for England and Wales may include some children from other parts of the UK.

Table 3.4 Cross UK comparisons of number of secure care accommodation services, places approved, and children accommodated, 31 March 2014-2022 [Note 1], [Note 2], [Note 3], [Note 4], [Note 5], [Note 6]

UK nation

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

England

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Number of secure children's homes

16

14

14

14

14

14

13

13

13

Places approved

276

232

232

232

233

237

232

231

231

Children accommodated

211

194

192

184

189

162

171

130

157

Wales

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Number of secure children's homes

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

Places approved

22

22

22

22

22

22

22

22

18

Children accommodated

18

11

18

19

15

10

13

12

8

Scotland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Number of secure care accommodation services

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

Places approved

90

90

90

84

84

84

84

84

84

Children accommodated

80

85

84

81

81

84

82

72

68

[Note 1] Please note that the legal routes into secure care can vary between the UK countries.

[Note 2] Source for England and Wales available from Statistics: secure children’s homes.

[Note 3] For Northern Ireland, official/national statistics are not produced on secure care accommodation.

[Note 4] The figures from outside Scotland include children placed on welfare grounds only.

[Note 5] Scotland total includes a number of children from the rest of the UK, so trends in each country based on the children's origin may be different.

[Note 6] To allow for comparison with England and Wales Scotland's data within this table is at 31 March for all years with the exception of 2020 for which it is at 29 February.

Contact

Email: childrens.statistics@gov.scot

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