This statistical release provides information at national and local authority level on the outcomes for children looked after (CLA) continuously for at least 12 months at 31 March 2019.

The outcome measures cover:

• educational attainment (at key stage 1, key stage 2 and key stage 4)
• special educational needs
• absence from school
• exclusions from school
• destinations from school (published for first time)

The national tables include comparisons to children in need and non-looked after children.

Local authority data is published within the underlying data.

The additional tables include measures for previously looked after children who have:

• been adopted from care
• left care through a special guardianship order (SGO)
• left care through a child arrangements order (CAO)

The following data is available:

• rates of special educational needs and free school meals
• types of school attended
• attainment in early years, key stage 1, key stage 2 and key stage 4
• absence and exclusion rates

This release illustrates some of the proposed changes to the annual Outcomes for children looked after by local authorities National Statistics release and outcomes within the Characteristics of children in need (CIN) National Statistics.

Improving these statistics was a commitment made at the end of the Children in need review. The proposed changes aim to improve the consistency of definitions and the range of children reported on. For example, the annual statistics do not currently report outcomes on the whole CIN cohort and only report on children looked after for at least twelve months at 31 March, whereas this release includes the outcomes of all CIN, including breakdowns for those on child protection plans and those looked after for less than 12 months at 31 March.

We are asking users for their feedback on these proposals. Further details are available at Children in need and looked after children statistics: proposed changes.

An ‘Official Statistics’ publication initially focusing on the educational outcomes for looked after children, with the aim of including the lifelong learning, health and justice outcomes for looked after children in future years.

This publication brings together outcomes statistics for children in need and children looked after by local authorities which, prior to 2020, were published separately.

Reference id: SFR27/2010

Publication type: statistical first release

Publication data: underlying Statistical data

Local authority data: LA data

Region: England

Release date: 30 September 2010

Coverage status: final

Publication status: published

The figures are based on data from the SSDA903 return collected from all local authorities.

This release reports progress on 7 local authority indicators (national indicators under the previous government’s targets).

Main findings:

• there were 64,400 looked after children as at 31 March 2010, an increase of 6% from 2009 and an increase of 7% since 2006
• 27,800 children started to be looked after during the year ending 31 March 2010. This is an increase of 8% from the year ending 31 March 2009 and 13 percent from the year ending 31 March 2006. Of these children 9,500 are classed as being taken into care (see technical note 12)
• 25,100 children ceased to be looked after during the year ending 31 March 2010. This is similar to last year’s figure of 25,000
• overall, the main reason why social care services first engaged with children who started to be looked after during the year was because of abuse or neglect (52%). This percentage has increased since 2009
• 73% of children who were looked after at 31 March 2010 were in a foster placement. This is an increase from 69% in 2006. There were 2,300 children placed for adoption at 31 March 2010
• there were 3,400 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) who were looked after at 31 March 2010. This is a decrease of 12% from 2009
• there were 350 mothers aged 12 and over who were looked after at 31 March 2010. This is the same as the previous year and an increase of 18% from the 2006 figure

Note that these are replacement PDF and Excel files to correct the percentage of children who ceased to be looked after due to adoption during the year ending 31 March 2006.

The additional tables for this SFR have been arranged into 8 themes:

• children looked after at 31 March
• children looked after during the year ending 31 March
• children who started to be looked after during the year ending 31 March
• looked-after children adopted during the year ending 31 March
• children looked after who were adopted during the year ending 31 March
• children who ceased to be looked after aged 16 and over during the years ending 31 March (care leavers)
• children now aged 19 years who were looked after on 1 April then aged 16 (former care leavers)
• long term trends for children looked after at 31 March, and children who started, ceased and were adopted during the years ending 31 March

As part of a government drive for data transparency in official publications we have included supporting data for this publication as additional tables. Underlying data for this publication was made available on 28 October 2010.

Looked-after children data user group

This is a new group which aims to seek feedback on whether these statistics are meeting users’ requirements and to consult on any future changes to this data collection and the timing and format of our outputs. If you would like to participate in this group then please register your interest via email.

UK comparability of children looked after statistics

Statistics on social services for children are collected and published by the following government departments:

• The UK government’s Department for Education (for England)
• The Scottish government’s Education Analytical Services Division
• The Welsh Assembly government’s statistical directorate
• The Northern Ireland executive’s Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety

In each area of social services, there are similarities between the collections in the different countries, but also differences. These may be due to different legislation, the differing history of data collections and differences in the requirements for monitoring policy. To fulfil the UKSA requirement to document these differences, a report has been produced comparing the legislative provisions in each country, describing the range of statistics produced and providing a set of statistics for English regions, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

natalie.masters@education.gov.uk

This statistical first release (SFR) provides information about looked-after children in England for the year ending 31 March 2015.

We based the figures on data from the children looked after return (also known as SSDA903) which DfE collects from all local authorities in England.

On 10 December 2015 we added:

• additional tables
• underlying data
• an additional pre-release access list

Statistics providing information on measures of widening participation in higher education.

These include estimates of state-funded pupils’ progression to higher education (HE) by age 19 according to their personal characteristics at age 15, including:

• eligibility for free school meals (FSM)
• gender
• ethnicity
• special educational need (SEN) status
• first language
• looked after children
• children in need

The publication also includes the following:

• geographic breakdowns to enable comparisons of HE progression rates between local authorities and regions
• estimated percentages of A level and equivalent students at age 17, by school or college type, who progressed to HE by age 19
• progression by POLAR disadvantage and Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework rating
• breakdowns for high tariff HE providers

Between 2021 and 2023 we piloted £8 million of Pupil Premium Plus style funding in 58 local authorities in England.

Since 2023 we have rolled this funding out nationally to all eligible local authorities in England, with:

• £10 million in 2023 to 2024
• £14 million in 2024 to 2025
• £14 million in 2025 to 2026

This funding is for local authorities to use to improve the education outcomes for looked-after children and care leavers at post-16. In particular, it should support improvements in:

• attendance
• retention
• attainment

This should enable them to have sustained involvement in employment, education and training.

The 2025 to 2026 grant determination letter provides:

• details of a grant to support local authorities in receipt of post-16 Pupil Premium Plus funding
• details of the amount of funding awarded to each local authority site in 2025 to 2026
• a link to statutory guidance that participating sites should follow

Reference ID: SFR03/2012

Publication type: Statistical first release

Publication data: Local authority data

Local authority data: LA data

Region: England

Release date: 09 February 2012

Coverage status: Final

Publication status: Published

This SFR provides information from the year 2010 to 2011 (using revised data) on attainment for GCSE and equivalent results for pupils attending maintained schools (including CTCs and academies) by different pupil characteristics - specifically gender, ethnicity, English as a first language, eligibility for free school meals (FSM) and special educational needs (SEN) at national and local authority level.

The release shows that:

• 58.2% achieved 5 or more A* to C grades at GCSE or equivalent including English and mathematics GCSEs (an increase of 3.0 percentage points from the year 2009 to 2010).

• Girls continue to outperform boys: 61.9% of girls achieved 5 or more A* to C grades at GCSE or equivalent including English and mathematics GCSEs compared with 54.6% of boys.

• Chinese pupils are the highest attaining ethnic group, with 78.5% achieving 5 or more A* to C grades at GCSE or equivalent including English and mathematics GCSEs.

• 58.5% of pupils whose first language is English achieved 5 or more A* to C grades at GCSE or equivalent including English and mathematics GCSEs, compared to 55.8% of pupils for whom English is not a first language.

• 34.6% of pupils eligible for FSM achieved 5 or more A* to C grades at GCSE or equivalent including English and mathematics GCSEs, compared to 62.0% of all other pupils.

• 33.8% of disadvantaged pupils (pupils eligible for FSM or looked-after children) achieved 5 or more A* to C grades at GCSE or equivalent including English and mathematics GCSEs, compared to 62.3% of all other pupils.

• The proportion of pupils with SEN without a statement achieving achieved 5 or more A* to C grades at GCSE or equivalent including English and mathematics GCSEs is 24.7% , compared to 8.5% of pupils with SEN with a statement, and 69.5% of pupils with no identified SEN.

Please note: Tables showing attainment by area of pupil residence and attainment by area of school location were added on 7 March 2012, alongside the underlying data for all tables in this SFR.