Reporting year 2022

Outcomes for children in need, including children looked after by local authorities in England

Children in need, including children looked after by local authorities in England, national and local authority level outcomes including key stage 4 and absence

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Last updated
5 updatesfor Reporting year 2022
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16 data sets available for download

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  • National - Absence (six half terms)

    National

    Full-year absence by type of school and social care group. Data for 2019/20 is not available.

    Number of rows
    340
    Indicators
    • Overall absence percentage
    • Authorised absence percentage
    • Unauthorised absence percentage
    Filters
    • School type
    • Social care group
    Time period
    2016/17 to 2021/22
    Create table using National - Absence (six half terms)
  • National - Destinations

    National

    Destinations after completing Key Stage 4 by social care group.

    Number of rows
    40
    Indicators
    • Total number of pupils in sustained apprenticeships
    • Percentage in sustained apprenticeships
    • Total number of pupils in intermediate apprenticeships (level 2)
    Filters
    • Social care group
    Time period
    2016/17 to 2019/20
    Create table using National - Destinations
  • National - Free school meals (FSM)

    National

    Free school meal eligibility of children in need by social care group.

    Number of rows
    44
    Indicators
    • Percentage of pupils with free school meal eligibility
    • Number of pupils
    • Number of pupils with free school meal eligibility
    Filters
    • Social care group
    Time period
    2016/17 to 2021/22
    Create table using National - Free school meals (FSM)
  • National - Key Stage 1 (KS1)

    National

    Key Stage 1 attainment by special educational need and social care group.

    Number of rows
    748
    Indicators
    • Percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading TA
    • Percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in writing TA
    • Percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in maths TA
    Filters
    • Ethnicity
    • Social care group
    • Special Educational Needs status
    Time period
    2016/17 to 2021/22
    Create table using National - Key Stage 1 (KS1)
  • National - Key Stage 2 (KS2)

    National

    Key Stage 2 attainment and progress by special educational need and social care group.

    Number of rows
    828
    Indicators
    • Average progress score for reading
    • Average progress score for writing TA
    • Average progress score for maths
    Filters
    • Ethnicity
    • Social care group
    • Special Educational Needs status
    Time period
    2016/17 to 2021/22
    Create table using National - Key Stage 2 (KS2)
  • National - Key Stage 4 (KS4)

    National

    Key Stage 4 attainment and progress by special educational need and social care group.

    Number of rows
    868
    Indicators
    • Average Attainment 8 score of all pupils
    • Average EBacc APS score per pupil
    • Average Progress 8 score of all pupils
    Filters
    • Ethnicity
    • Social care group
    • Special Educational Needs status
    Time period
    2016/17 to 2021/22
    Create table using National - Key Stage 4 (KS4)
  • National - School type

    National

    Type of school by social care group.

    Number of rows
    68
    Indicators
    • Total number of pupils
    • Total number of pupils in state-funded primary school
    • Total number of pupils in state-funded secondary school
    Filters
    • Social care group
    Time period
    2016/17 to 2021/22
    Create table using National - School type
  • National - Special educational needs (SEN)

    National

    Special educational need and primary type of special educational need by social care group.

    Number of rows
    68
    Indicators
    • Percentage of pupils with no identified SEN
    • Percentage of pupils with SEN
    • Percentage of pupils with SEN support
    Filters
    • Social care group
    Time period
    2016/17 to 2021/22
    Create table using National - Special educational needs (SEN)
  • National - Suspensions and permanent exclusions

    National

    National attainment 8 and absence figures for children in need and children looked after.

    Number of rows
    335
    Indicators
    • Percentage of pupils with one or more suspension
    • Percentage of pupils permanently excluded
    • Total number of pupils
    Filters
    • School type
    • Social care group
    Time period
    2015/16 to 2020/21
    Create table using National - Suspensions and permanent exclusions
  • LA - Absence (six half terms)

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Full-year absence by type of school and social care group for children in need (excluding children on a child protection plan and children looked after), children on a child protection plan (excluding children looked after) and children looked after. Data for 2019/20 is not available.

    Number of rows
    14,730
    Indicators
    • Overall absence percentage
    • Authorised absence percentage
    • Unauthorised absence percentage
    Filters
    • School type
    • Social care group
    Time period
    2016/17 to 2021/22
    Create table using LA - Absence (six half terms)
  • LA - Free school meals (FSM)

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Free school meal eligibility for children in need (excluding children on a child protection plan and children looked after), children on a child protection plan (excluding children looked after).

    Number of rows
    1,964
    Indicators
    • Percentage of pupils with free school meal eligibility
    • Number of pupils
    • Number of pupils with free school meal eligibility
    Filters
    • Social care group
    Time period
    2016/17 to 2021/22
    Create table using LA - Free school meals (FSM)
  • LA - Key Stage 2 (KS2)

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Key Stage 2 attainment and progress for children in need (excluding children on a child protection plan and children looked after), children on a child protection plan (excluding children looked after) and children looked after.

    Number of rows
    2,946
    Indicators
    • Average progress score for reading
    • Average progress score for writing TA
    • Average progress score for maths
    Filters
    • Social care group
    Time period
    2016/17 to 2021/22
    Create table using LA - Key Stage 2 (KS2)
  • LA - Key Stage 4 (KS4)

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Key Stage 4 attainment and progress for children in need (excluding children on a child protection plan and children looked after), children on a child protection plan (excluding children looked after) and children looked after.

    Number of rows
    2,946
    Indicators
    • Average Attainment 8 score of all pupils
    • Average EBacc APS score per pupil
    • Average Progress 8 score of all pupils
    Filters
    • Social care group
    Time period
    2016/17 to 2021/22
    Create table using LA - Key Stage 4 (KS4)
  • LA - School type

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Type of school for children in need (excluding children on a child protection plan and children looked after), children on a child protection plan (excluding children looked after) and children looked after.

    Number of rows
    2,933
    Indicators
    • Total number of pupils
    • Total number of pupils in state-funded primary schools
    • Total number of pupils in state-funded secondary schools
    Filters
    • Social care group
    Time period
    2016/17 to 2021/22
    Create table using LA - School type
  • LA - Special educational needs (SEN)

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Special educational need and primary type of special education need for children in need (excluding children on a child protection plan and children looked after), children on a child protection plan (excluding children looked after) and children looked after.

    Number of rows
    2,946
    Indicators
    • Percentage of pupils with no identified SEN
    • Percentage of pupils with SEN
    • Percentage of pupils with SEN support
    Filters
    • Social care group
    Time period
    2016/17 to 2021/22
    Create table using LA - Special educational needs (SEN)
  • LA - Suspensions and permanent exclusions

    Local authority, National, Regional

    Suspensions and permanent exclusions for children in need (excluding children on a child protection plan and children looked after), children on a child protection plan (excluding children looked after) and children looked after.

    Number of rows
    2,931
    Indicators
    • Percentage of pupils with one or more suspension
    • Percentage of pupils permanently excluded
    • Total number of pupils
    Filters
    • Social care group
    Time period
    2015/16 to 2020/21
    Create table using LA - Suspensions and permanent exclusions

Data guidance

Description of the data sets included in this release, including information on data sources, coverage, quality and any data conventions used.

Description

This document describes the data included in the ‘Outcomes for children in need, including children looked after by local authorities in England: 2022' National Statistics underlying data files. This data is released under the terms of the  Open Government License and is intended to meet at least three stars for  Open Data.

The methodology should be referenced alongside this release. It provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality and how the data is produced.

Coverage

This statistical release provides data on outcomes measures for children in need (CIN), including children looked after (CLA) by local authorities in England. Data is provided at national, regional and local authority level.

Children in need data is not available for Hackney local authority for both the 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022 collection years. Hackney were unable to provide a return for both the 2021 and 2022 children in need census collections, due to a cyberattack which had a significant impact on their management information systems.

The outcome measures cover:

  • special education needs
  • educational attainment (at Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4)
  • educational progress (between Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2, and between Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4)
  • destinations from school
  • absence from school
  • permanent exclusions and suspensions from school
  • free school meal eligibility
  • type of school attended

Detailed information on the social care groups and the all pupils comparisons is provided in the methodology.

Abbreviations of social care group names used throughout this release

  • CIN - children in need
  • CINO - children in need, excluding children on a child protection plan and children looked after. This includes children on child in need plans as well as other types of plan or arrangements.
  • CPPO - children on a child protection plan, excluding children looked after.
  • CLA - children looked after (excludes children who are in respite care in their most recent episode during the reporting year).

Social care groups

Social care groups included within this release are:

  • All pupils comparison - from the national publications.
  • CIN at 31 March.
  • CINO at 31 March
  • CPPO at 31 March
  • CLA for 12 months at 31 March
  • CLA less than 12 months at 31 March.
  • CIN at any point - ‘any point’ means at any point during the reporting year (including at 31 March).
  • CINO at any point.
  • CPPO at any point.
  • CLA at any point.
  • Ever CIN - last 6 years - children in need, at any point in the last 6 reporting years (including at 31 March).

Note that local authority level data only includes CINO, CPPO and CLA for at least 12 months (all at 31 March) and FSM data does not include CLA.

At key stage 4 there are additional groups in the national level data on previously looked after arrangements (PLAA). These are Official Statistics on arrangements for previously looked after children.

  • ‘PLAA - Adoption’ - previously looked after children who left care through an adoption.
  • 'PLAA - SGO' - previously looked after children who left care through a special guardianship order (SGO).
  • ‘PLAA - CAO’ - previously looked after children who left care through a child arrangements order (CAO).
  • ‘PLAA - Total’ - previously looked after children who left care through an adoption, SGO or CAO.

File formats and conventions

Confidentiality (rounding and suppression):

Rounding and suppression is applied to the data. The Code of Practice for Statistics requires that reasonable steps should be taken to ensure that all published or disseminated statistics produced by the DfE protect confidentiality. The publications follow the DfE policy statement on confidentiality (opens in new tab)

National and regional numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Local authority numbers are unrounded.

Where a denominator is shown as zero, the original figure submitted was zero. 

Percentages are rounded to one decimal place (except for permanent exclusions and suspensions, where they are rounded to two decimal places).

Average Attainment 8 scores are rounded to one decimal place. EBacc average point scores, Key Stage 2 progress measures and Progress 8 measures are rounded to two decimal places.

As a result of rounding components may not sum to totals and percentages may not sum to 100.

For all attainment measures, values of 0 (zero) are suppressed to protect confidentiality. For all other measures, values of 0 (zero) are not primary suppressed. Prior to 2021, values of 0 (zero) were suppressed for all measures.

The following symbols have been used:

‘c’ to protect confidentiality - secondary suppression may also be applied to figures to protect confidentiality
‘z’ for not applicable
‘x’ for not available (updated in 2021 from a colon in 2020)
‘k’ used when a result that is not 0 (zero) would appear as 0 (zero) due to rounding


Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Outcomes for children in need, including children looked after by local authorities in England statistics and data:

Children Looked After Data Team

Email: CLA.STATS@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Bree Waine

Press office

If you have a media enquiry:

Telephone: 020 7783 8300

Public enquiries

If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:

Phone: 0370 000 2288

Opening times

Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 5.30pm (closed on bank holidays)