Headline Statistics

Looked after children

• On 31 July 2025, 11,824 children were looked after, compared to 11,780 on 31 July 2024, and down 23% since 2014-15 (15,400).
• The rate of children looked after per 1,000 children slightly increased to 11.8 in 2025 from 11.6 per 1,000 children in 2024. This represents a marginal rise since the previous year, up to which there had been a steady decline since a peak in 2011.
• A total of 2,411 looked after children were looked after at home on 31 July 2025. This is a 5% increase since 2024 (2,298) but down 39% overall since 2014-15. This accounts for 20% of looked after children, consistent with the previous two years but an overall decrease from 25% in 2015.
• On 31 July 2025, the most common placements away from home were kinship care (35%), foster care (28%), and residential accommodation (12%). Since 2022, there has been a higher proportion of looked after children in kinship care than foster care, and kinship care has been the most common placement type.
• During 2024-25, 3,195 children started to be looked after – down 1% since 2023-24 (3,242) and down 24% since 2014-15 (4,198).
• A total of 3,279 children ceased to be looked after during 2024-25 – down 8% since 2023-24 (3,548) and down 25% since 2014-15 (4,371).
• Of those children whose home postcode at the time of becoming looked after was recorded, a little below half (46%) have a home address in one of the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland, whereas 4% were from one of the 20% least deprived areas in Scotland.

Care leavers

• During 2024-25, 958 young people aged 16 years or over ceased to be looked after and were eligible for continuing care. Of these, 38% (367) entered continuing care. This is compared to 32% (327) entering continuing care in 2023-24.
• On 31 July 2025, 1,155 young people were in continuing care, 23% of those who were eligible for continuing care at the time of ceasing to be looked after (4,927). This is a similar proportion to the previous year when 22% of those eligible were in continuing care (1,115).
• On 31 July 2025, an estimated 9,386 young people were eligible for aftercare services. 4,545 (48% of those eligible, compared to a revised estimate of 51% for the previous year) were receiving aftercare services.
• 1,951 (54%) of those in aftercare were in education, training or employment - a similar proportion to the previous year when 2,049 young people were in education, training or employment (54%).