National - Official Statistics - Children looked after who were missing
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. Figures by duration of missing periods, placement from which the child went missing and age of child at start of missing incident. Data formerly in table G1.
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 the number of children with missing incidents of up to 8% in 2018, 10% in 2019 and 13% in 2020; suggesting the true figures could be more like 10,700, 10,800 and 11,000. There is a corresponding estimate of an undercount of the number of children with away without authorisation incidents of up to 18% in 2018, 22% in 2019 and 29% in 2020; suggesting the true figures could be more like 4,700, 4,700 and 4,800. 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.
On this page
Data set details
- Theme
- Children's social care
- Publication
- Children looked after in England including adoptions
- Release
- Reporting year 2020
- Release type
- Geographic levels
- National
- Indicators
- Measure
- Filters
- Children looked after who were missing
- Time period
- 2018 to 2020
Data set preview
| time_period | time_identifier | geographic_level | country_code | country_name | missing_status | characteristic | Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Reporting year | National | E92000001 | England | Children with a missing incident by gender | Females | 5080 |
| 2018 | Reporting year | National | E92000001 | England | Children with a missing incident by gender | Males | 6440 |
| 2018 | Reporting year | National | E92000001 | England | Children with a missing incident by gender | Total children who had a missing incident during the year | 11530 |
| 2019 | Reporting year | National | E92000001 | England | Children with a missing incident by gender | Females | 5270 |
| 2019 | Reporting year | National | E92000001 | England | Children with a missing incident by gender | Males | 6620 |
Variables in this data set
| Variable name | Variable description |
|---|---|
| characteristic | Children looked after who were missing - by missing status |
| Number | Measure |
Footnotes
- Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Percentages rounded to the nearest whole number. See the methodology document for further information. Figures exclude children looked after under a series of short-term placements. Historical data may differ from older publications which is mainly due to amendments made by local authorities after the previous publication.
- 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 the number of children with missing incidents of up to 8% in 2018, 10% in 2019 and 13% in 2020; suggesting the true figures could be more like 10,700, 10,800 and 11,000. There is a corresponding estimate of an undercount of the number of children with away without authorisation incidents of up to 18% in 2018, 22% in 2019 and 29% in 2020; suggesting the true figures could be more like 4,700, 4,700 and 4,800. 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.
- 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.
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