Metric permalink
Children looked after
Part of the Childhood and Social Floor domain. Children looked after by local authorities per 10,000 children, England, at 31 March.
Latest data
Latest reading
Year ending 31 Mar 2025
A higher reading is treated as worse for this indicator.
Score composition
Stress score
Blended from three components: (60% weight), trend (30% weight) and volatility (10% weight). Full formula on the methodology page.
Level · 60% weight
Percentile: this metric is scored against its own history, where today sits between its best and worst recorded years.
Trend · 30% weight
Measured from the direction and size of the change between the two most recent readings.
Volatility · 10% weight
19Measured from how much this indicator has swung period on period across its recorded history.
Data confidence and provenance
Confidence and source
How much weight to put on the reading, the mean data-confidence across the component metrics (source quality, recency and completeness).
Source
Children looked after in England including adoptions
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- Department for Education
- Series ID
- dfe_looked_after
- Frequency
- Annual
- Accessed
- 14 June 2026
Known weakness
England; the rate reflects both underlying need and local-authority thresholds and policy, which vary.
Notes
Verified official value from Department for Education (dfe_looked_after), accessed 2026-06-14.
Historical values
History
| Period | Value | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 57 | |
| 2012 | 59 | |
| 2013 | 60 | |
| 2014 | 60 | |
| 2015 | 60 | |
| 2016 | 60 | |
| 2017 | 62 | |
| 2018 | 64 | |
| 2019 | 65 | |
| 2020 | 67 | |
| 2021 | 67 | |
| 2022 | 70 | |
| 2023 | 71 | |
| 2024 | 70 | |
| 2025 | 67 |