Statistics on children in need in England, including child protection plans and referrals to and assessments completed by children’s social care services.
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Data sets present comprehensive open data from which users can create their own tables using the EES table tool or download a zipped CSV file.
Description of the data sets included in this release, including information on data sources, coverage, quality and any data conventions used.
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Featured tables are pre-prepared tables created from a statistical release's data sets. They provide statistics that are regularly requested by some users (such as local councils, regional government or government policy teams) and can be adapted to switch between different categories (such as different geographies, time periods or characteristics where available).
National-level time series data for Section 47 enquiries, initial child protection conferences and child protection plans, including rates per 10,000 children.
Time series of children in need, referrals and assessments, including rates per 10,000 children.
Data sets present comprehensive open data from which users can create their own tables using the EES table tool or download a zipped CSV file.
National
Children in need, episodes of need, referrals and assessments completed by children's social care services.
Local authority, National, Regional
Children in need episodes at any point during the year, episodes starting and ending in the year and children in need at 31 March.
National
Section 47 enquiries, initial child protection conferences and child protection plans.
National
Children in need by gender, age and primary need.
National
Children in need by gender, age and ethnicity.
National
Children who were the subject of a child protection plan at 31 March by initial category of abuse.
National
Children in need by gender, age and ethnicity.
National
Children who were the subject of a child protection plan at 31 March by initial category of abuse by gender, age and ethnicity.
Local authority, National, Regional
Children in need by disability.
Local authority, National, Regional
Children in need by duration of episode of need.
Local authority, National, Regional
Episodes of need ending during the year by duration of episode of need.
Local authority, National, Regional
Referrals to children's social care services, referrals within 12 months of a previous referral, referrals which resulted in no further action and referrals which were assessed and resulted in no further action.
Local authority, National, Regional
Child protection plans starting, ending and at any point during the year and children subject to a child protection plan at 31 March.
Local authority, National, Regional
Child protection plans starting in the year and child protection plans which are a second or subsequent plan.
Local authority, National, Regional
Episodes of need ending during the year by reason for case closure.
Local authority, National, Regional
Referrals to children's social care services by source of referral.
Local authority, National, Regional
Assessments completed by children's social care services by duration of assessment.
Local authority, National, Regional
Section 47 enquiries and initial child protection conferences.
Local authority, National, Regional
Children who were the subject of a child protection plan at 31 March by duration of the plan.
Local authority, National, Regional
Children in need by primary need at assessment.
Local authority, National, Regional
Referrals to children's social care services by month of the year.
Local authority, National, Regional
Child protection plans ending during the year by duration of the plan.
Local authority, National, Regional
Child protection plans starting during the year by initial and latest category of abuse.
Local authority, National, Regional
Children who were the subject of a child protection plan at 31 March by initial and latest category of abuse.
Local authority, National, Regional
Children who were the subject of a child protection plan at 31 March that had been on a plan for at least three months and had reviews carried out within the required timescales.
Local authority, National, Regional
Child protection plans ending during the first six months of the year by duration of the plan.
Local authority, National, Regional
ONS population estimates for children aged 0 to 17 (age at mid-year).
Local authority, National, Regional
Factors identified at the end of assessment.
National
Children in need, referrals, assessments and child protection plans.
Description of the data sets included in this release, including information on data sources, coverage, quality and any data conventions used.
Children in need statistics provide information on:
- children in need of social care services;
- children referred to social care services;
- assessments undertaken, primary need at assessment and factors identified at the end of assessment;
- section 47 enquiries (carried out by a local authority if they suspect a child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm) and initial child protection conferences;
- children who were the subject of a child protection plan.
Data is collected by the Department for Education in the annual Children in need Census from all local authorities in England.
Data for Hackney local authority is not available for the year ending 31 March 2021.
Confidentiality
0 indicates the original figure submitted was zero.
Any number between 1 and 5 inclusive has been suppressed and replaced by ‘c’. Secondary suppression has been applied where necessary, to preserve confidentiality.
The letter ‘z’ indicates data is not applicable.
The symbol ‘:’ indicates that data is not available. This may be because a local authority was unable to return a particular data item in the children in need census; changes to the data collected in the census; or data is not available because of concerns regarding quality.
The symbols used are in accordance with the latest Government Statistical Service (GSS) guidance.
Rounding
England and regional totals are rounded to the nearest 10 and therefore totals may not equal the sum of their component parts.
Percentages are rounded to one decimal place, therefore component parts may not sum to 100.
Rates per 10,000 children aged under 18 years are rounded to one decimal place. Rates are calculated using ONS mid-year population estimates for children aged 0 to 17 years in England.
If you have a specific enquiry about Children in need statistics and data:
If you have a media enquiry:
Telephone: 020 7783 8300
If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:
Phone: 0370 000 2288
Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 5.30pm (closed on bank holidays)
Don't include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details.