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1. Step 1

   • Publication: Children looked after in England including adoptions

2. Step 2

   • Data set: Official Statistics - CLA who were away from placement without authorisation - NATIONAL

3. Step 3

   • National:
     • England

4. Step 4

   • Time period: 2018 to 2021

5. Step 5

   • Indicators:
     • Measure
   • Children looked after who were away from placement:
     • 1 to 4 years
     • 10 to 15 years
     • 16 years and over
     • 5 to 9 years
     • Total incidents

6. Step 6 Explore data

   This data is not from the latest release

   View latest data: Reporting year 2023

   Measure for 'Official Statistics - CLA who were away from placement without authorisation - NATIONAL' for 1 to 4 years, 10 to 15 years, 16 years and over, 5 to 9 years, All children looked after during the year and 28 other filters in England between 2018 and 2021

   		2018	2019	2020	2021
   Children away from placement without authorisation by gender	Total children who were away from placement without authorisation during the year	3,870	3,600	3,390	2,600
   	Males	2,220	2,020	1,930	1,440
   	Females	1,650	1,580	1,460	1,160
   Children away from placement without authorisation	All children looked after during the year	104,250	106,640	108,670	108,070
   	Percentage of children looked after during the year who were away from placement without authorisation	4	3	3	2
   Away from placement without authorisation incidents	Total away from placement without authorisation incidents during the year	15,670	13,610	13,690	10,360
   Children away from placement without authorisation	Average number of incidents per looked after child who was away from placement without authorisation	4	3.8	4	4
   	Children away from placement without authorisation more than once during the year	2,060	1,890	1,810	1,390
   	Children away from placement without authorisation at 31 March	50	40	40	30
   Durations of away from placement without authorisation periods	Total incidents	15,670	13,610	13,690	10,360
   	Less than 1 day	5,080	4,120	3,960	2,900
   	Between 1 and 2 days	9,060	7,810	7,820	5,970
   	Between 3 and 7 days	1,130	1,220	1,380	1,080
   	Between 8 and 10 days	130	160	180	110
   	Between 11 and 15 days	120	110	160	110
   	Between 16 and 20 days	40	40	70	50
   	Between 21 and 30 days	50	50	60	40
   	More than 30 days	70	90	70	100
   Children away from placement without authorisation	Average (mean) number of days per away from placement without authorisation incident	1.7	2	1.9	2.4
   	Average (median) number of days per away from placement without authorisation incident	1	1	1	1
   Placements from which children were away from placement without authorisation	Total incidents	15,670	13,610	13,690	10,360
   	Foster placements	3,310	2,470	2,880	1,620
   	Placed for adoption	0	0	0	0
   	Placed with parents	70	80	80	70
   	Living independently	3,900	3,470	2,780	1,460
   	Secure units, children's homes and semi-independent living accommodation	8,150	7,340	7,710	7,090
   	Other placements	250	260	240	130
   Age of children who were away from placement without authorisation	Total incidents	15,670	13,610	13,690	10,360
   	Under 1 year	c	10	c	c
   	1 to 4 years	10	c	c	c
   	5 to 9 years	20	20	10	10
   	10 to 15 years	5,080	3,620	3,830	2,310
   	16 years and over	10,560	9,960	9,850	8,030

   Footnotes

   1. 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.
   2. 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 8% in 2018, 10% in 2019 and 13% in 2020 and 2021; suggesting the true figures could be more like 10,700, 10,800, 11,000 and 9,600. There is a corresponding estimate of an undercount of away without authorisation incidents of up to 18% in 2018, 22% in 2019, 29% in 2020 and 32% in 2021; suggesting the true figures could be more like 4,700, 4,700, 4,800 and 3,800. 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.

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   Related information

   • Release type:
   • Publication: Children looked after in England including adoptions, Reporting year 2023

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