Looked After Children Statistics: 2023-24

22 Apr 2025 01:08 PM

An Accredited Official Statistics Publication

Looked After Children Statistics were published on 22 April 2025. These statistics cover data collected from local authorities in Scotland on looked after children and care leavers, for the reporting year 01 August 2023 – 31 July 2024.

Key findings include:

• On 31 July 2024, 11,844 children were looked after – down 2% since 31 July 2023 (12,084) and down 24% since 2013-14 (15,600).
• A total of 2,313 looked after children were looked after at home on 31 July 2024. This accounts for 20% of looked after children. The most common placements away from home were kinship care (35%), foster care (32%), and residential accommodation (11%).
• During 2023-24, 3,105 children started to be looked after – down 1% since 2022-23 (3,133) and down 28% since 2013-14 (4,295).A total of 3,398 children ceased to be looked after during 2023-24 – down 3% since 2022-23 (3,494) and down 28% since 2013-14 (4,696). 
• Just over half (54%) of looked after children have a home address in one of the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland, whereas 3% were from one of the 20% least deprived areas in Scotland.
• During 2023-24, 967 young people aged 16 years or over ceased to be looked after and were eligible for continuing care. Of these, 33% (315) entered continuing care.On 31 July 2024, 1,115 young people were in continuing care. This is 22% of those who were eligible for continuing care at the time of ceasing to be looked after (4,985). 
• On 31 July 2024, an estimated 9,369 young people were eligible for aftercare services.4,454 (48% of those eligible) were receiving aftercare services – up 7% on 31 July 2023 (4,151). 

Background

This report is part of the Children’s Social Work Statistics publication series. The data used to produce the statistics was collected from 32 local authorities across Scotland. The figures refer to the reporting year 01 August 2023 to 31 July 2024.

Looked after children are defined as those in the care of their local authority (Children Scotland Act 1995). There are many reasons children may become looked after including: facing abuse or neglect at home; having disabilities that require special care; unaccompanied minors seeking asylum, or illegally trafficked into the UK; or involvement in the youth justice system.

The full statistical publication is available with the Excel tables at the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/childrens-social-work-statistics-looked-after-children-2023-24/.

Official statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.