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.


Headline statistics

Child protection

  • on 31 July 2022, 2,031 children were on the Child Protection Register – down 4% on 31 July 2021
  • during 2021-22, 3,286 children were newly registered onto the Child Protection Register – down 5% on 2020-21
  • the most common concerns identified at Case Conferences of children registered during the year were: domestic abuse, neglect, parental substance misuse and parental mental health problems

Looked after children

  • on 31 July 2022, 12,596 children were looked after – down 5% on 31 July 2021
  • during 2021-22, 2,909 children started to be looked after – up 1% on 2020-21
  • the most common types of placements for looked after children were: kinship care (34%), foster care (33%), and at home with parents (21%).  A smaller proportion of children (10%) were looked after in residential settings

Continuing care

  • on 31 July 2022, 696 young people were in continuing care – up 24% on 31 July 2021
  • during 2021-22, 255 young people entered continuing care – down 2% on 2020-21

Aftercare

  • on 31 July 2022, 8,132 young people were eligible for aftercare services – up 11% on 31 July 2021
  • on 31 July 2022, 4,108 young people were receiving aftercare services – up 5% on 2020-21

Secure care accommodation

  • during 2021-22, there were an average of 74 residents in secure care accommodation – down 3% from an average of 76 residents in 2020-21
  • on average, 41 residents were from within Scotland (down 13% on 2020-21) and 33 were from outside Scotland (up 14% on 2020-21)

Contact

Email: childrens.statistics@gov.scot

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