Children’s Social Work Statistics: Looked After Children 2023/24

Continuing care is the continued provision of the accommodation and other assistance being provided by local authorities, under section 67 of The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, which inserted a new section 26A in the Children (Scotland) 1995 Act, immediately before the young person ceases to be looked after. Please see background notes for eligibility criteria.

Young people ceasing to be looked after during the year and entering continuing care

A total of 967 young people aged 16 years or over ceased to be looked after in a placement that falls under eligibility criteria for continuing care (i.e., kinship care, foster care, or residential accommodation). Of these, 315 or 33% entered continuing care after ceasing to be looked after (Table 1.9). 51% of those in foster care who ceased to be looked after aged 16 years or older entered continuing care. This compares to 29% of those in residential care and 19% of those in kinship care.

Table 1.9 Continuing care eligibility and uptake during the reporting year

Number of young people aged 16 years old or over ceasing to be looked after with a destination of continuing care by placement type [Note 1], [Note 2], [Note 3]

[Note 1] Kinship placements include placements where young people are with family/relatives.

[Note 2] Foster placements include placements where young people are with foster carers provided by Local Authority or with foster carers purchased by Local Authority.[Note 3] Residential placement include placements in Local Authority home, in voluntary home, residential school, secure care, and other residential.

[Note 4] The total excludes a small number of young people who have entered continuing care but whose age or placement did not match eligibility criteria for continuing care (i.e., kinship, foster or residential).

During 2023-24, the proportion of young people ceasing to be looked after with a destination of continuing care remained steady (9%) when compared to 2022-23 (9%) (Table 1.10). Of all young people ceasing to be looked after during the year with a destination of continuing care, the greatest proportion were in foster care (52%), followed by residential accommodation (25%), and kinship care (23%). About half of young people ceasing to be looked after during the year with a destination of continuing care were aged 17 years (53%).

Table 1.10 Destination of continuing care by age and placement type

Number and percentage of young people ceasing to be looked after during the year with a destination of continuing care by age and placement type, 2023-24 [Note 1], [Note 2], [Note 3], [Note 4]

[Note 1] Kinship placements include placements where young people are with family/relatives.

[Note 2] Foster placements include placements where young people are with foster carers provided by Local Authority or with foster carers purchased by Local Authority.

[Note 3] Residential placement include placements in Local Authority home, in voluntary home, residential school, secure care, and other residential.

[Note 4] The total excludes those who have a destination of continuing care but whose final placement did not match eligibility criteria for continuing care (i.e., kinship, foster or residential).

Young people in continuing care as at 31 July

On 31 July 2024, 1,115 young people were in continuing care (Table 1.11) This is an increase of 30% on the figure in 2023.  However, some of this increase may be due to improved recording of continuing care, as there were improvements in the data collection methods from 2023-24 onwards. This means data from 2024 is not directly comparable to previous years and caution should be exercised when comparing continuing care statistics 2024 to previous years. 42% of young people in continuing care were aged 16 years old, followed by 39% who were aged 18 years old, 26% who were 19-21 years old, and a smaller proportion (13%) aged 17 years old. On 31 July 2024, 4,985 young people were eligible for continuing care, of which 1,115 young people were receiving continuing care (22%). This is a slight increase in proportion of eligible young people in receipt of continuing care compared to the previous year where 777 (17%) of the 4,582 eligible were receiving continuing care.

Table 1.11 Continuing care at year end

Number and percentage of young people receiving continuing care by age on 31 July [Note 1]

[Note 1] Young people aged 22+ are not technically eligible for continuing care but there may be some special cases.

[Note 2] Due to a change in the data collection, the data from 2024 onwards is not directly comparable to previous years and may explain some of the increase.

On 31 July 2024, the rate per 1,000 young people (16-21 years) receiving Continuing Care was 2.1 – remaining the same as in 2023 (2.1) (see Additional Table 1.13).

Aftercare

Aftercare refers to the advice, guidance and assistance provided to care leavers under section 29 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) 1995 Act. Please see background notes for eligibility criteria.

Eligible for aftercare

On 31 July 2024, 4,454 (48%), were receiving aftercare services – a 13% increase from 4,151 receiving services in 2023 (Table 1.10). 9,369 young people were eligible for aftercare services – a 7% increase from 8,517 eligible in 2023. Almost half of those eligible (48%) were receiving aftercare services. This is similar to the proportion (49%) in 2023.

Please note, a new approach was used when calculating the 2024 aftercare eligibility numbers (see Table 1.12 Note 1 for details).

Table 1.12 Aftercare services eligibility and uptake at year end

Number and percentage of young people eligible for and receiving aftercare services by age, 31 July 2024

[Note 1] The number eligible for aftercare is estimated based on data received on: number of eligible needs assessments in 2023-24, where an eligible need was identified; number eligible for aftercare recorded in 2022-23, where the young person is still within the age criteria for aftercare in 2023-24; number of care leavers in 2023-24 within the compulsory age criteria for aftercare, not looked after or in continuing care as at 31 July 2024; young people otherwise included in the Care Leavers return eligible for aftercare. Young people are counted only once within this estimate, where they meet more than one of these eligibility criteria. This represents a change to the way data on eligibility has been gathered compared to previous years.

Since 2014, the number of young people eligible for aftercare services has substantially increased from 3,767 to 9,369 in 2024 (Chart 4). This increase is expected as more young people who have left care have met age range criteria for aftercare services over time. As shown in Chart 4, the biggest year-on-year increase in eligibility was observed between 2015 (3,599) and 2016 (4,602). This 28% increase was likely driven by the extension of aftercare services in 2015 to all care leavers up to and including people aged 25 (where it previously only covered up to their 21st birthday). The number of young people receiving an aftercare service has also increased from 2,628 in 2014 to 4,454 in 2024, although not to the same extent as the increases observed in the eligibility figures.

Chart 4 Aftercare services eligibility and uptake over time

Number of young people eligible and receiving aftercare services on 31 July, 2009-2024

[Note 1] The number eligible for aftercare in 2023-24 is estimated based on data received on: number of eligible needs assessments in 2023-24, where an eligible need was identified; number eligible for aftercare recroded in 2022-23, where the young person is still within the age criteria for aftercare in 2023-24; number of care leavers in 2023-24 within the compulsory age criteria for aftercare, not looked after or in continuing care as at 31 July 2024; young people otherwise included in the Care Leavers return eligible for aftercare. Young people are counted only once within this estimate, where they meet more than one of these eligibility criteria. This represents a change to the way data on eligibility has been gathered compared to previous years.

Aftercare and economic activity

Of the 3,711 young people in aftercare from whom economic status is known, 2,047 of them were in education, training, or employment. That is over half (55%) of young people in aftercare were their economic status is known. Of these, 333 were in higher education, 929 were in education other than higher education, and 785 were in training or employment. 1,664 were not in education, training, or other employment.

Table 1.13 Number of young people receiving aftercare services by sex and economic activity, 31 July 2024

[Note 1] Scotland percentages refer to ages 16 to 26 based on mid-2022 NRS population estimates in line with eligibility criteria for aftercare support.

[Note 2] Where Male or Female sex is not specified, young people are included in the "Total" column