Children's social work statistics: 2018-2019 - republication

Secure Care Accommodation

• Average number of residents reduced by 1 to 79 since 2018
• The number of young people admitted to secure care increased by 3% to 217 since 2018.

This section presents 2018-19 data on secure care accommodation. Following the conventions in the rest of this publication 2018-19 is referred to as 2019. Secure care is used for a small number of young people who present high risk to themselves or others and a placement to secure can only be authorised following a decision through the Children's Hearing System or a Court.

Bed complement

There were 84 secure places available in five secure units in Scotland excluding emergency beds on 31 July 2019 (Table 3.1). Furthermore, there were an additional 7 beds available across these units for emergency and short-term use - these would normally only be used if required and on a short-term basis.

Table 3.1: Secure care unit bed complement at 31 July 2019 ⁽¹⁾

Unit	Number of secure care beds
Edinburgh Secure Services	6
Good Shepherd	18
Kibble	18
Rossie School	18
St. Mary's Kenmure(1)	24
All Units	84

(1) Excluding emergency or short-term beds

Capacity and usage

Table 3.2 shows there were an average of 79 residents in secure care accommodation between 1 August 2018 and 31 July 2019, a slight decrease from an average of 80 in the previous year. There was an 18% increase in the average number of residents from within Scotland and a decrease of 26% in the average number of residents from outside Scotland, most of whom were from England.

The number of nights emergency beds were used was 398 in 2019. This is an increase of 40% from 284 in the previous year. The number of residents using emergency beds has also increased from 41 in 2018 to 55 in 2019.

Table 3.2: Secure care accommodation capacity ⁽¹⁾ and usage, 2014-2019

	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018(3,4)	2019	% change 2018-19
Places at year end	90	90	90	84	84	84	0%
Admissions during the year	232	249	256	248	210	217	3%
Discharges during the year	226	245	253	257	213	210	-1%
Average number of residents during the year	74	82	85	76	80	79	-1%
Residents from within Scotland	67	76	72	56	45	53	18%
Residents from outside Scotland	7	6	13	19	35	26	-26%
Minimum number of residents during the year	60	71	77	67	73	71	-3%
Maximum number of residents during the year(1)	84	89	90	87	86	88	2%
Number of nights emergency bed used during the year(2)	5	146	50	90	284	398	40%
Number of residents emergency bed used for during the year(2)	3	13	11	25	41	55	34%

(1) Capacity: Young people can be admitted and discharged more than once during the year.

(2) Four units reported having an emergency bed: Rossie Secure Accommodation Services; Good Shepherd Centre; Kibble Education and Care Centre; and St. Mary's Kenmure St Mary's Kenmure also have 3 short-term beds. (see background notes for definition of an emergency or short-term bed).

(3) 2018 figures for emergency bed usage have been estimated for St. Mary's Kenmure.

(4) 2018 figures for all items in this table, except places at year end, have been corrected in this publication due to the discovery of an error affecting residents admitted to emergency beds.

On 31 July 2019, 29% of young people in secure care accommodation were female (Table 3.3); 65% were aged 16 or over; and 90% were aged 15 or older.

On 31 July 2019, 32% of young people in secure care accommodation had at least one disability, defined as "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".

Table 3.3: Young people in secure care at 31st July 2019 by gender, age at admission, disability and length of stay ^(1,2)

	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018(3)	2019	% of 2019 total
Gender of residents(4)
Males	52	59	65	46	39	60	71%
Females	29	26	23	34	43	24	29%
Age of Residents
13 years old or under	5	7	9	14	12	*	*
14 years	12	18	18	18	18	*	*
15 years	31	28	27	26	25	21	25%
16 years or over	33	32	34	22	27	55	65%
Residents with disability
Yes	-	-	34	27	39	27	32%
No/unknown	-	-	54	53	43	57	68%
Length of stay of residents at year end
Less than 1 month	13	17	20	26	10	21	25%
1 month to under 2 months	14	16	14	13	14	16	19%
2 months to under 3 months	14	13	14	12	13	9	11%
3 months to under 6 months	23	26	24	25	27	22	26%
6 months to under 1 year	9	*	10	*	14	11	13%
1 year or more	8	*	6	*	0	5	6%
Total	81	85	88	80	82	84	100%

(1) As at 31 July of each year.

(2) Cells containing * represent numbers that are suppressed to maintain confidentiality.

(3) 2018 figures for all items in this table have been corrected in this publication due to the discovery of an error affecting residents admitted to emergency beds.

(4) Trans, intersex and non-binary individuals are grouped with males for the purposes of maintaining confidentiality.

Cross-UK secure care accommodation comparisons

Table 3.4 shows secure children's homes/secure care accommodation units, places approved, and children accommodated across the United Kingdom. This shows that there is no clear trend in the number of children accommodated in England and Wales, as the numbers have fluctuated.

As noted earlier in this Secure Care Accommodation section, the Scotland total includes a number of children that are from the rest of the UK. The England and Wales totals may also include some children from other parts of the UK, but these numbers aren't published separately.

Table 3.4: Number of secure children's homes/secure care accommodation units, places approved and children accommodated at year end across the United Kingdom ^(1,2,3), 2014-2019

		2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
England	Number of secure children's homes	16	14	14	14	14	14
	Places approved	276	232	232	232	233	237
	Children accommodated	211	194	192	184	189	162
Wales	Number of secure children's homes	1	1	1	1	1	1
	Places approved	22	22	22	22	22	22
	Children accommodated	18	11	18	19	15	10
Scotland(4)	Number of secure care units	5	5	5	5	5	5
	Places approved	90	90	90	84	84	84
	Children accommodated	80	85	84	81	82	84

(1) Sources: England and Wales - Statistics on secure children's homes: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-secure-children-s-homes; Scotland - Secure care accommodation census; Northern Ireland, official/national statistics are not produced on secure care accommodation. The legal routes into secure care can vary between the four UK countries.

(2) As noted elsewhere, the 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.

(3) The figures from outside Scotland include children placed on welfare grounds only.

(4) To allow for comparison with England and Wales, Scotland's data for all years is 'at 31 March' within this table only.

(5) 2018 figure for children accommodated in Scotland been corrected in this publication due to the discovery of an error affecting residents admitted to emergency beds.

There is more information on the comparability of child protection data across the UK at the bottom of the following link: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/socialservicestats

The data used to produce the charts and tables on secure care in the publication are available in the supporting files accompanying the publication. There are also additional tables available in the supporting files. www.gov.scot/collections/childrens-social-work