New statistics – Children Looked After: a focus on placement location
There is legislation in Parliament concerning distance of placements from family, separate but associated with the Children’s Well Being Bill.
Become the children’s looked after charity have a major campaign on the issue Our #GoneTooFar campaign – Become Their latest communication: Stats on children in care 2025 – Become
The issue is high in the All Party Parliamentary Committee concerns.
This analysis has been produced to provide additional insight into placements for children looked after outside the local authority boundary.
It includes data by:
- placement locality
- placement type
- child characteristics
Headline facts and figures – 2024
Percentage of CLA placed outside the LA boundary
45%
A steady increase from 40% in 2015
Percentage of CLA placed 20 miles or less from home
69%
A steady decrease from 76% in 2015
Average distance for all CLA
7 miles
Increase from 6 miles in 2015
Average distance for CLA with three or more placements
8 miles
Increase from 7 miles in 2015
CLA placed outside the LA boundary were in foster care
52%
Percentage of CLA placed outside their neighbouring LA
13%
The total number of CLA at 31 March has gradually increased over the last ten years from 69,460 in 2015 to 83,760 in 2023, before a minor fall to 83,630 in 2024. This overall upward trend influences the changes observed in the analysis below, which examines CLA in England by location of their placement and distance from home, including trends over time.
Figures below relate to the year ending 31 March 2024 and compare to the year ending 31 March 2023 unless otherwise stated.
- 45% of all CLA were placed outside the LA boundary – slight increase from 44% last year
- 69% of all CLA were placed less than 20 miles from home – slight decrease from 70% last year
- 22% of all CLA were placed more than 20 miles from home – an increase from 21% last year
- 17% of all CLA were placed outside the LA boundary and over 20 miles from home – the same as last year
- Average (median) placement distance for all CLA was 7 miles – the same as last year
- Average (median) distance for CLA with three or more placements during the year was 8 miles – consistent since 2016
- Of CLA who were placed outside the LA boundary, most (52%) were in foster care with other foster carers.
- Of CLA who were placed for adoption – 80% were placed outside the LA boundary.
- On average, CLA who were placed for adoption were furthest from home, at 24 miles, followed by residential schools and residential settings at 23 miles.
- CLA placed in foster care with a relative or friend are more likely to be placed closer to home than those placed in foster care with other foster carers.
- On average, CLA placed in independent fostering agency placements are further from home, at 10 miles compared to 5 miles for LA fostering placements.
- CLA who were male, aged 10 to 15 years or from Black, African, Caribbean or Black British ethnic groups were most likely to be placed further from home.
- CLA who were female, aged under 1 year or from Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups were most likely to be placed closer to home.
- 53% of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) were placed outside the LA boundary – an increase from 47% in 2022.
Local authorities (LAs) in smaller, urban, and densely populated areas, such as those within Greater London and major UK cities, often place CLA outside their jurisdictional boundaries. In contrast, larger and more rural LAs typically place children within their own boundaries.
LAs located in the South of England and major urban centres tend to report higher proportions of CLA placed outside the LA boundary and over 20 miles from home.
At 31 March 2024, 10,620 (13%) of all CLA were placed ‘outside the neighbouring LAs’ at an average distance of 76 miles. The North West receives a disproportionate proportion of CLA placed ‘outside their neighbouring LAs’ in children’s homes (16% from South West and 11% from South East).
For CLA entering care during 2015-16:
- 64% of CLA had their first placement outside the LA boundary
- 70% of CLA were placed outside the LA boundary within 2 weeks of entering care, and Friday was the most likely day (24%) to be placed outside the LA boundary
Many of the changes within the release can be explained by the large increase in unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in recent years. UASC influence many of the changes seen in the figures as they are a distinct cohort with specific characteristics, for example they are generally male, aged 16+ years, with relatively short period of care.
