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
2019 to 2023

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
2023Reporting yearNationalE92000001EnglandAverage number of away from placement without authorisation incidents per looked after child4
2023Reporting yearNationalE92000001EnglandAverage number of missing incidents per looked after child who went missing6.4
2023Reporting yearNationalE92000001EnglandChildren away from placement without authorisation at 31 March70
2023Reporting yearNationalE92000001EnglandChildren looked after during the year114670
2023Reporting yearNationalE92000001EnglandChildren missing at 31 March240

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. Figures for 2021 exclude data for Hackney and figures for 2023 exclude data for Barnsley as the LAs were unable to provide data in these years.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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 10% in 2019, 13% in 2020 and 2021, 10% in 2022 and 11% in 2023; suggesting the true figures could be more like 10,800, 11,000, 9,600, 11,100 and 11,500. There is a corresponding estimate of an undercount of away without authorisation incidents of up to 22% in 2019, 29% in 2020, 32% in 2021, 30% in 2022 and 32% in 2023; suggesting the true figures could be more like 4,700, 4,800, 3,800, 3,600 and 3,900. 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.

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