The Cross-border Placement of Children (Requirements, Effect and Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2026: Island Communities Impact Assessment

Step two – gather your data and identify your stakeholders

The Scottish Government publish Children’s Social Work Statistics for Looked After Children each year. The latest report was published in April 2025 and can be found here. It shows that, as at 31 July 2024:

• There were 973 children living in residential care in Scotland (this number excludes residential schools and secure accommodation). This is around 8% of the total number of looked after children in Scotland.
• There were 2693 children living in foster care in Scotland. This is around 32% of the total number of looked after children in Scotland.

The Care Inspectorate Bulletin which published on 28 October 2025 showed that at 31 December 2024, there were 3,680 children living in foster families in Scotland.

Data on cross-border residential care placements

The number of Deprivation of Liberty (DoL) order placements into residential care in Scotland has been steadily decreasing since the implementation of the Cross-border Placements (Effect of Deprivation of Liberty Orders) (Scotland) Regulations 2022 (‘the 2022 Regulations’) - falling from 17 in December 2022 to 4 in October 2025.

Since the 2022 Regulations came into force, a total of 39 initial DoLs notifications have been received. 35 of these cases have subsequently been confirmed closed either by notification or advocacy intelligence. From our data we cannot identify any DoL order placements in the Scottish Islands since the Regulations came into force in 2022. There are currently 4 DoL placements in Scotland.

As at 30 September 2025, there were 370 residential care home services in Scotland. This was made up of 117 local authority providers, 181 private providers, 71 voluntary/not for profit providers, and 1 health board. There were approximately 1872 registered residential care home service places. The breakdown of number of registered places by type of provider is local authority 735, private 705, voluntary/not for profit 426 and health board 6.

As at 31 October 2025, approximately 101 children were placed cross-border into residential care in Scotland. Of these:

• 94 were from England
• 6 were from Northern Ireland
• 1 was from Wales

Breakdown by legal basis for placement:

• Full Care Order – 63
• Interim Care Order – 8
• Voluntary Arrangement – 26
• Deprivation of Liberty Order – 4

These placements span 21 local authority areas in Scotland. From the latest data, we believe there are approximately 15 cross-border placements across three of the identified local authority areas – Argyll and Bute, North Ayrshire, and Highland – all these placements are into homes located on the mainland.

There are currently no private providers operating on a Scottish Island. Below, we have provided information on the residential children’s homes located on Scottish islands.

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles)

There are two residential children’s homes in Comhairle nan Eilean Siar: Rowantree House is operated by the local authority and is located on the Isle of Benbecula and Hillcrest is voluntary/not for profit and is located on the Isle of Lewis.

Highland Council

There are sixteen residential children’s homes in Highland Council: eight are operated by the local authority, five are privately run, and three are voluntary / not for profit. One home Is located on an island – Skye Respite Service – and is operated by Highland Council.

Orkney Islands Council

There are two children’s homes in Orkney: both are operated by the local authority.

Shetland Islands Council

There are four children’s homes in Shetland: all four are operated by the local authority.

Argyll and Bute and North Ayrshire also have islands within their LA area, however there are no children’s residential homes on these islands. As at 31 October 2025 we are aware of 9 current cross-border placements across these two LAs. There is also one active cross-border placement in Highland, but not on an island.

Data on cross-border fostering placements

There is limited data on cross-border fostering placements into Scotland. There are no known cross-border fostering placements on Scottish Islands.

As at 18 November 2025 there were approximately 34 cross-border foster placements. All these placements are on the mainland.