Data set from Children looked after in England including adoptions

Official Statistics - CLA who were missing or away from placement without authorisation - LA

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Note: These statistics are published as Official Statistics. Users should be cautious making comparisons between local authorities, or across years due to changing reporting practices - see the methodology document for further information. Children looked after who were missing or away from placement without authorisation. Data formerly in table LAG1. For some local authorities, the figures may be impacted by significant numbers of unaccompanied asylum seeking children

Data set details

Theme
Children's social care
Publication
Children looked after in England including adoptions
Release type
Geographic levels
Local authority, National, Regional
Indicators
  • Number
Filters
  • Children who are missing or away without authorisation
Time period
2020 to 2024

Data set preview

Table showing first 5 rows, from underlying data
time_periodtime_identifiergeographic_levelcountry_codecountry_nameregion_coderegion_nameold_la_codela_namenew_la_codeCLA_groupnumber
2024Reporting yearNationalE92000001EnglandAverage number of away from placement without authorisation incidents per looked after child4
2024Reporting yearNationalE92000001EnglandAverage number of missing incidents per looked after child who went missing6.5
2024Reporting yearNationalE92000001EnglandChildren away from placement without authorisation at 31 March60
2024Reporting yearNationalE92000001EnglandChildren looked after during the year116420
2024Reporting yearNationalE92000001EnglandChildren missing at 31 March300

Variables in this data set

Table showing all 2 variables
Variable nameVariable description
CLA_groupChildren who are missing or away without authorisation
numberNumber

Footnotes

  1. National and regional numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Percentages rounded to the nearest whole number. Historical data may differ from older publications which is mainly due to amendments made by local authorities after the previous publication. However, users looking for a longer time series may wish to check for the equivalent table in earlier releases of this publication. Figures exclude children looked after under a series of short-term placements.
  2. Missing is defined as a looked after child who is not at their placement or a place they are expected to be and their whereabouts is not known.
  3. Away from placement without authorisation is defined as a looked after child whose whereabouts is known but who is not at their placement or place they are expected to be and the carer has concerns or the incident has been notified to the local authority or the police.
  4. Since 2017 a growing number of local authorities informed the department that they do not record incidents as 'away without authorisation' but instead report all incidents as 'missing' to maintain consistency with local police reporting. We estimate this could mean an overestimate of missing incidents of up to 13% in 2020 and 2021, 10% in 2022, 11% in 2023 and 13% in 2024; suggesting the true figures could be more like 11,000, 9,600, 11,100, 11,500 and 11,500. There is a corresponding estimate of an undercount of away without authorisation incidents of up to 29% in 2020, 32% in 2021, 30% in 2022, 32% in 2023 and 36% in 2024; suggesting the true figures could be more like 4,800, 3,800, 3,600, 3,900 and 4,300. However some of these local authorities submitted some 'away without authorisation' information and this has been included in the away from placement without authorisation table.
  5. Figures for 2021 exclude data for Hackney.

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