The aim of this ad-hoc release is to better understand the cohort of children in need (CIN) who have been assessed as having been affected by child sexual abuse and/or child sexual exploitation, and how this compares to children assessed as having been affected by other assessment factors.
The release uses a number of different data sources, and analyses different time periods, all of which are explained in further detail in this methodology document.
This release uses data from a range of sources including the Children in Need census, the SSDA903 return (Children looked after census), the Longitudinal Child Dataset, Serious Incident Notifications and Home office data on police recorded crime. Further details on each source are included below.
The children in need (CIN) census is an annual child-level data collection by the Department for Education (DfE) which collects individual assessment information and child characteristics for each child that has been referred to children’s social care services. The census is a statutory requirement under section 83 of the Children Act 1989 and data is collected from each local authority in England.
A comprehensive review of the children in need census can be found in the CIN methodological release.
The Department for Education collects information on looked after children in the SSDA903 return. This is completed annually by local authorities in England. Data is required for two groups of children:
A comprehensive review of the SSDA903 return can be found in the Children looked after methodological release.
The LCD collates data on every child referred to, or in need of, children’s social care (CSC) since 2012-13, as reported in the annual children in need (CIN) and looked after children (CLA) census. The dataset includes the demographics of children and dates of referrals, assessments, section 47 enquiries, initial child protection conferences, child protection plans and periods of being looked-after per child as reported in the CIN and CLA census. Some additional data such as referral sources, assessment factors and reasons for case closure are also included.
The dataset was created by linking together all the data from the CIN census using unique identifiers derived from local authority child identifiers. This linking took account of changing identifiers across years and local authority reorganisations. The linking accounted for children who moved across local authorities where the Unique Pupil Number (UPN) was recorded in both authorities, therefore cases where a child moved but the UPN was not known will appear as distinct children in the dataset. Data from the CLA census was also matched in.
The Children Act 2004 (as amended by the Children and Social Work Act 2017 (opens in new tab)) states that where a local authority in England knows or suspects that a child has been abused or neglected, the local authority must notify the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel (opens in new tab) (the Panel) and by extension DfE and Ofsted if:
(a) the child dies or is seriously harmed in the local authority's area, or
(b) while normally resident in the local authority's area, the child dies or is seriously harmed outside England.
The local authority must also notify the Secretary of State for Education and Ofsted where a looked after child had died, whether or not abuse or neglect is known or suspected.
The statutory duty to notify the Panel, and by extension DfE and Ofsted, came into effect from 29 June 2018. Prior to this, notifications were only made to Ofsted.
Serious harm includes (but is not limited to) serious and/or long-term impairment of a child's mental health or intellectual, emotional, social or behavioural development. It also covers impairment of physical health.
The statistics show the number of incidents notified in the period, rather than the number of incidents that occurred in the period and are based on one notification per incident, which can relate to more than one child in some instances.
The local authority should notify the Panel within five working days of becoming aware that the incident has occurred. However, in some cases, there can be delays in notifications being submitted. In addition, whilst data quality has improved in recent years, DfE is aware that, in some instances, not all incidents that meet the definition for a serious incident are notified.
The notification system that collects characteristics of the serious incident went live in February 2019. From the year ending 31 March 2020 to 2025, child sexual abuse was defined as intra-familial sexual abuse. From 01 April 2025, the notification system was updated to collect both intra-familial and extra-familial sexual abuse. This new collection is not included in this publication.
A comprehensive review of the SINs data can be found in the SINs methodological release.
The Home Office has responsibility for collating police recorded crime data from the police forces of England and Wales. The following tables are used in this release:
Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK (opens in new tab), specifically prc-pfa-mar2013-onwards-tables-231025.ods (opens in new tab)
Additionally, the Office for National Statistics publish crime statistics, at: ONS Crime in England and Wales (opens in new tab) and in order to understand the recent/non-recent crime split at national level, the following table has been used in this release: ONS, Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables - Year ending March 2025 Table B10 (opens in new tab)
The ‘Child characteristics’ section of the release compares to the overall child population. The child population statistics are sourced from the Office for National Statistics:
ONS mid-year population estimates (opens in new tab) are used to compare to age breakdowns of the overall child population.
2021 census (opens in new tab) is used to compare to ethnicity breakdowns of the overall child population.
Additionally, the ‘Comparison with police recorded crime’ section of the release uses the ONS mid-year population estimates (opens in new tab) to calculate rates.
A referral is defined as ‘a request for services to be provided by children’s social care services’. This is in respect of a case where the child is not previously known to the local authority, or where the case was previously open but is now closed. A referral should not be recorded if there is a case for the child already open. A referral can be made by a professional from one of many different agencies but the term as used here is a broad one which encompasses referrals from any source, including self-referrals.
A referral may result in:
A re-referral occurs when a child is referred within 12 months of a previous referral.
Re-referrals within 12 months can be used as a metric for measuring the success of interventions by social workers. High levels of re-referrals may indicate that cases are being closed prematurely or that interventions were not successful in bringing about lasting change in circumstances for children.
However, there will always be some level of re-referrals that occur due to changes in a child’s circumstances that require new interventions.
The re-referrals analysis has 2 methodologies:
The re-referral rate refers to the proportion of referrals for each assessment factor that are re-referrals. For example, there were 9,740 referrals where gangs were recorded at assessment, and 3,250 of these were re-referrals. Therefore, the re-referral rate for gangs is 33%.
The analysis disaggregates referrals into three groups:
These categories are mutually exclusive. In cases of repeat re-referrals, all are classified as re-referrals.
For example, a child may be referred to CSC, then referred again within 12 months, and then referred for a third time within 12 months. The first referral is classified as an initial referral that will lead to a re-referral, the second and third referrals are both classified as re-referrals, even though the second referral could be considered an initial referral that will lead to a re-referral.
The assessment factors associated with re-referrals are those found at the assessment for the re-referral, not the initial referral. A child may not have been assessed at initial referral; if they were assessed, they may have any combination of assessment factor(s) recorded.
The analysis in this section measures the proportion of all referrals that had each assessment factor recorded. For example, child sexual exploitation is recorded at assessment in 3% of all initial referrals where the child is not re-referred, 2% of all initial referrals where the child is re-referred and, 4% of all re-referrals.
Local authorities undertake assessments of the needs of individual children to determine what services to provide and action to take. An assessment should be completed within 45 working days of a referral.
An assessment is undertaken for any child who has been referred to children’s social care services with a request that services be provided. Statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ was revised in 2013 (and again in 2018) giving local authorities more flexibility when assessing children. Previously, local authorities carried out an initial assessment within 10 working days and (where needed) a more in-depth core assessment within 35 working days. All local authorities now carry out a single continuous assessment within 45 working days.
A child in need is defined under the Children Act 1989 as a child who is unlikely to reach or maintain a satisfactory level of health or development, or their health or development will be significantly impaired without the provision of children's social care services, or the child is disabled.
Children in need include children on child in need plans, children on child protection plans, looked after children, care leavers and disabled children.
Children in need also include unborn children and young people aged 18 years and over who continue to require support from children’s social care services.
If a local authority identifies there is reasonable cause to suspect the child is suffering, or is likely to suffer significant harm, it will carry out an assessment under section 47 of the Children Act 1989 to determine if it needs to take steps to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child. If concerns are substantiated and the child is judged to be at continuing risk of harm then an initial child protection conference should be convened within 15 working days. The conference will result in a decision on whether or not the child will become the subject of a child protection plan.
A child becomes the subject of a child protection plan if they are assessed as being at risk of harm, at an initial child protection conference. Once a child becomes the subject of a child protection plan, their plan should be reviewed within the first 3 months and then at intervals of not more than 6 months.
A child will cease to be the subject of a plan if:
Each entry in police recorded crime data relates to one victim, with the most serious crime being recorded. A victim of a crime with multiple perpetrators would only be recorded once in the year of the crime being reported.
Contact child sexual abuse excludes offences related to indecent images. The following Home Office offence codes were used in defining contact CSA: 17B: Sexual assault on a male child under 13, 19D: Rape of a female child under 16, 19E: Rape of a female child under 13, 19G: Rape of a male child under 16, 19H: Rape of a male child under 13, 20B: Sexual assault on a female child under 13, 21: Sexual activity involving a child under 13, 22B: Sexual activity involving a child under 16, 71: Abuse of children through sexual exploitation (formerly prostitution or pornography, 73: Abuse of position of trust of a sexual nature, 88A: Sexual grooming.
Total crime rates include all crimes reported in that financial year.
Recent crime rates include only crimes that were reported in that financial year, less than a year after they occurred. Some PFAs contain a number of crimes with missing date information. As a result, it is unclear whether these crimes are recent or non-recent. Consequently, the calculated national recent crime rate is likely to be an underestimate.
Non-recent crime is defined as a crime that has been reported more than a year after it occurred.
Factors identified at the end of assessment are additional factors that social workers record as being relevant in a case. The majority of children have more than one unique factor recorded.
The reported assessment factor figures differ to those currently available in the Children in Need statistical release as they are recorded against individual children, whereas the figures in the Children in Need statistical release are recorded against episodes of need.
Additionally, we have introduced a new grouping of assessment factors which is not currently used in the Children in Need statistical release. This grouping can be found in the Annex.
The latest definition of assessment factors can be found in Children in need census 2025 to 2026: guide - GOV.UK (opens in new tab), note that these definitions may have changed slightly over time. More details on assessment factors can be found in Appendix B of the census guide.
Users should be aware of the following when interpreting these statistics:
Most children are assessed with more than one assessment factor during their assessment, and our release refers to the multiple factors being recorded as ‘co-occurring factors’.
Within the release we have applied longitudinal analysis to better understand re-referrals, child protection plans and children looked after. This analysis uses the Longitudinal CIN dataset (LCD) which means that some data may not exactly match published Children in Need statistics due to matching methods.
This analysis shows data from 2017 to 2023. This is because the LCD only contains data up to 2024 and the analysis requires a full year of data after the reference year to see whether initial referrals will become or not become a re-referral.
The analysis disaggregates referrals into three groups:
There are two time periods considered in this part of the release.
The first uses data from 2018 to 2024. The cohort of children analysed are those who were referred to children’s social services and assessed by a social worker between 1st April 2017 and 31st March 2018. The LCD is used to understand their journeys through social care over the following 6 years.
The second focuses only on 2024. The cohort of children analysed are those who were referred to children’s social services and assessed by a social worker between 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024. The LCD is used to understand their journeys through social care within the same period.
Only children/referrals with assessment factor information have been included; children who were not assessed by a social worker have not been included.
This section analyses the cohort of children who were referred to children's social services and assessed by a social worker between 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024. The LCD is used to understand how many of these children had a previous referral to children's social services which resulted in no further action, or a previous section 47 enquiry in the six years prior to their assessment.
This analysis uses data from 2018 to 2024. The cohort of children analysed are those who were referred to children’s social services and assessed by a social worker between 1st April 2017 and 31st March 2018. The LCD is used to understand how many of these children enter care in the next six years up to 31st March 2024 and their characteristics.
The following symbols are used in the underlying data files as follows:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| c | to protect confidentiality - secondary suppression may also be applied to figures to protect confidentiality |
| z | data not applicable |
| x | data not available |
| u | low reliability |
| k | values rounds to zero but is not zero, for example where a percentage is less than 0.05% |
Where any number is shown as zero, the original figure submitted was zero.
England and regional totals are rounded to the nearest 10, therefore totals may not equal the sum of their component parts.
Percentages are mostly rounded to a whole number, therefore component parts may not sum to 100.
Wording in this release | Wording in CIN publication | Change |
|---|---|---|
Domestic abuse (any) | New - includes any of the following: ‘Domestic abuse: concerns child is victim’, ‘Domestic abuse: concerns other person is victim’, ‘Domestic abuse: concerns parent is victim’. | |
Domestic abuse: concerns child is victim | Domestic abuse: concerns child is victim | |
Domestic abuse: concerns other person is victim | Domestic abuse: concerns other person is victim | |
Domestic abuse: concerns parent is victim | Domestic abuse: concerns parent is victim | |
Alcohol misuse (any) | New - includes any of the following: ‘Alcohol misuse: concerns about child’, ‘Alcohol misuse: concerns about parent’, ‘Alcohol misuse: concerns about other person’. | |
Alcohol misuse: concerns about child | Alcohol misuse: concerns about child | |
Alcohol misuse: concerns about parent | Alcohol misuse: concerns about parent | |
Alcohol misuse: concerns about other person | Alcohol misuse: concerns about other person | |
Drug misuse (any) | New - includes any of the following: ‘Drug misuse: concerns about child’, ‘Drug misuse: concerns about parent’, ‘Drug misuse: concerns about other person’ | |
Drug misuse: concerns about child | Drug misuse: concerns about child | |
Drug misuse: concerns about parent | Drug misuse: concerns about parent | |
Drug misuse: concerns about other person | Drug misuse: concerns about other person | |
Substance misuse (any drug or alcohol misuse) | New - includes any of the following: ‘Alcohol misuse: concerns about child’, ‘Alcohol misuse: concerns about parent’, ‘Alcohol misuse: concerns about other person’, ‘Drug misuse: concerns about child’, ‘Drug misuse: concerns about parent’, ‘Drug misuse: concerns about other person’. | |
Mental health (any) | New - includes any of the following: ‘Mental health: concerns about child’, ‘Mental health: concerns about parent’, ‘Mental health: concerns about other person’. | |
Mental health: concerns about child | Mental health: concerns about child | |
Mental health: concerns about parent | Mental health: concerns about parent | |
Mental health: concerns about other person | Mental health: concerns about other person | |
Learning disability (any) | New - includes any of the following: ‘Learning disability: concerns about child’, ‘‘Learning disability: concerns about parent’, ’‘Learning disability: concerns about other person’, | |
Learning disability: concerns about child | Learning disability: concerns about child | |
Learning disability: concerns about parent | Learning disability: concerns about parent | |
Learning disability: concerns about other person | Learning disability: concerns about other person | |
Physical disability or illness (any) | New - includes any of the following: ‘Physical disability or illness: concerns about child’, ‘Physical disability or illness: concerns about parent’, ‘Physical disability or illness: concerns about other person’. | |
Physical disability or illness: concerns about child | Physical disability or illness: concerns about child | |
Physical disability or illness: concerns about parent | Physical disability or illness: concerns about parent | |
Physical disability or illness: concerns about other person | Physical disability or illness: concerns about other person | |
Young carer | Young carer | |
Privately fostered | Privately fostered | |
Unaccompanied asylum-seeker | Unaccompanied asylum-seeker | |
Going/being missing | Going/being missing | |
Child sexual exploitation | Child sexual exploitation | |
Trafficking | Trafficking | |
Gangs | Gangs | |
Socially unacceptable behaviour | Socially unacceptable behaviour | |
Self-harm | Self-harm | |
Neglect | Neglect | |
Emotional abuse | Emotional abuse | |
Physical abuse (any) | New - includes any of the following: ‘Physical abuse (old)’, ‘Physical abuse: child on child’, ‘Physical abuse: adult on child’. | |
Physical abuse (old) | Physical abuse | Wording change - the 'physical abuse' assessment factor has declined in use since 2021 when the new adult on child/child on child factors were introduced, this assessment factor is no longer used as of 2025. |
Physical abuse: child on child | Physical abuse: child on child | |
Physical abuse: adult on child | Physical abuse: adult on child | |
Sexual abuse (any) | New - includes any of the following: ‘Sexual abuse (old)’, ‘Sexual abuse: child on child’, ‘Sexual abuse: adult on child’. | |
Sexual abuse (old) | Sexual abuse | Wording change - the 'sexual abuse' assessment factor has declined in use since 2021 when the new adult on child/child on child factors were introduced, only a small number of local authorities still use it. |
Sexual abuse: child on child | Sexual abuse: child on child | |
Sexual abuse: adult on child | Sexual abuse: adult on child | |
Other factors | Other factors | |
Female Genital Mutilation | Female Genital Mutilation | |
Abuse linked to faith or belief | Abuse linked to faith or belief | |
Child criminal exploitation | Child criminal exploitation | |
Extra-familial harms | New - includes any of the following: gangs, trafficking, child sexual exploitation, going/being missing and child criminal exploitation. | |
Total |
If you have a specific enquiry about Children in need: A focus on sexual abuse and exploitation statistics and data:
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