Official Statistics Release

Methodology

101. 
     The child-level placement data was collected for the purpose of informing inspection of local authority children’s services as well as to contribute to national debate on placing of, and commissioning for, children looked after.
     

102. 
     We asked all local authorities to complete a child-level data collection form on all children looked after placements as at 31 March 2013. The collection asks local authorities for similar information to that requested by the Department for Education (DfE) in their annual SSDA903 return. However, we did ask for information that is not requested by the DfE, in particular the name and address of the specific branch of commissioned organisations through which children and young people were placed.
     

103. 
     The request for additional information to that required by the DfE did cause some local authorities some difficulties. Local authority systems contain statutorily required information for each child, and although further information is recorded elsewhere, for many LAs the additional information requested required manual input of data. This affected the timescales in which LAs could complete the return and increased the likelihood of errors in these returns.
     

104. 
     This is experimental data and we are consulting with local authorities about the collection for 31 March 2014. Any comments on the content or format of this report would be welcome and can be sent to socialcaredata@ofsted.gov.uk.
     

List of tables and charts

Table 1 Summary of placement codes before and after Ofsted quality assurance

Table 2 All active providers and whether children are placed with them, as at 31 March 2013

Table 3 Places in active providers, as at 31 March 2013

Chart 1 Proportion of children looked after by placement type, as at 31 March 2013

Chart 2 Proportion of children looked after by placement type and most recent inspection judgement, as at 31 March 2013

Chart 3 Proportion of children looked after by length of time in placement, as at 31 March 2013

Chart 4 Proportion of children looked after placed in each region, as at 31 March 2013

Chart 5 Proportion of children looked after by placement type and distance from local authority boundary, as at 31 March 2013

Chart 6 Proportion of children looked after by placement type and level of deprivation in local area, as at 31 March 2013

Chart 7 Proportion of children looked after by placement type and level of crime in local area, as at 31 March 2013

Chart 8 Proportion of children looked after in independent living by region, as at 31 March 2013

Chart 9 Proportion of children looked after by placement type and sector, as at 31 March 2013

Map 1 Proportion of children looked after placed outside their LA boundary, as at 31 March 2013

Map 2 Proportion of children looked after placed more than 20 miles from their LA boundary, as at 31 March 2013

Map 3 Proportion of children looked after placed in children's homes by level of local area deprivation, as at 31 March 2013

Map 4 Proportion of children looked after placed in children's homes by level of crime in the local area, as at 31 March 2013

Map 5 Proportion of children looked after that LAs placed using private or voluntary fostering services, as at 31 March 2013

Map 6 Proportion of children looked after that LAs placed in private or voluntary children's homes, as at 31 March 2013

Map 7 Proportion of children looked after that LAs placed using voluntary adoption agencies, as at 31 March 2013

Glossary

The focus of all adoption agencies is on placing children successfully into adoptive families who the agency recruits, assesses, prepares and supports, so they will meet the children’s needs and enable them to develop and achieve throughout their lives. The services maintained by local authorities are described in section 3(1) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002. Local authorities place children with adoptive families recruited and approved by themselves, by other local authorities or by voluntary adoption agencies who must register with Ofsted. Adoption agencies may also provide birth records, counselling and intermediary services to adoptees and birth relatives. There are three branches of voluntary adoption agencies in Wales which are inspected by Ofsted because their head offices are in England.

Adoption support agencies are defined by section 8 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 and provide services to anyone touched by adoption and are registered with Ofsted. This includes counselling and help for children and adults to gain information about their adoption or to trace birth relatives. Adoption support agencies can be either organisations or individuals, and may be contracted by a local authority to provide support services.

Local authority fostering services are defined by section 4 of the Care Standards Act 2000. Local authority fostering services and independent fostering services recruit, prepare, assess, train and support foster carers. Independent fostering services (IFSs) are private companies or charities, which are registered with Ofsted and provide placements to children and young people with foster carers approved by them. IFSs work closely with local authorities to deliver these placements.

A children’s home is defined in section 1 of the Care Standards Act 2000, and is an establishment that provides care and accommodation wholly or mainly for children. Children’s homes vary in size and nature. They fulfil a range of purposes designed to meet the different needs of those children and young people who are assessed as needing a residential care placement. Some homes, for example, provide short breaks which are needed to help support children and their family. Some residential special schools are registered as children’s homes because boarders are resident for more than 295 days per year.

Secure children’s homes are defined by section 25 of the Children Act 1989. They accommodate children and young people who are remanded or have been sentenced for committing a criminal offence. They also accommodate children and young people who are placed there by a court because their behaviour is deemed to present a significant and immediate threat to their safety or the safety of others, unless they are placed in a secure environment. Ofsted inspections are conducted in accordance with the Care Standards Act 2000 and judgements in reports are made in relation to the outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004. The criteria are the same as those used to inspect non-secure children’s homes.

The majority of boarding schools are independent and belong to associations which are members of the Independent Schools Council. As both education and welfare in these schools are inspected by their own inspectorate, Ofsted does not inspect these schools and so they are not included in the data. The remainder are maintained boarding schools where both education and the welfare of boarders are the subject of Ofsted inspection and independent boarding schools which are members of the Bridge Schools Inspectorate or Schools Inspection Service and who receive their education inspections by these organisations and their welfare inspections by Ofsted.

The care provision of further education colleges that provide, or arrange, residential accommodation for one or more students under the age of 18 years. Ofsted inspects these colleges under section 87 of the children act 1989.

Residential family centres are defined in section 4(2) of the Care Standards Act 2000 as establishments at which: a) accommodation is provided for children and their parents; b) the parents’ capacity to respond to the children’s needs and to safeguard their welfare is monitored and assessed; and c) the parents are given such advice, guidance and counselling is considered necessary.

Residential special schools are defined in section 59 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. They vary in size and nature. The sector includes large non-maintained special schools which make provision for very specific needs and take children as full boarders from all over the country, to smaller more local providers catering for children with a range of different special needs and disabilities who may be resident at the school only during the week. Some residential special schools are registered as children’s homes because boarders are resident for more than 295 days per year. There are also a small number of independent residential special schools who also tend to cater for children with very specialist needs.

Secure Training Centres are defined by section 43(1) (d) of the Prison Act 1952. Ofsted has the power to inspect under section 146 Education and Inspections Act 2006 and inspects both the care and educational provision for children in four secure training centres. They accommodate young people between the ages of 12 and 17 who have been remanded or sentenced by the courts. The centres are under contract to the Youth Justice Board, which monitors their compliance with requirements. Ofsted does not regulate secure training centres but has an agreement with the Youth Justice Board to inspect care twice a year and education once a year.

Sector refers to the type of provider that owns the children’s social care provision.

These are public bodies responsible for the children’s home.

These are for-profit organisations mostly with limited company status. These can also, though, be individually owned children’s homes and run for profit.

These are mostly not-for-profit organisations, mainly with charitable status. These can also be individually owned children’s homes and run on a not-for-profit basis.

These are NHS Trust-run.

The children looked after placement data collection requested data on children’s placements that, for the most part, had already been validated as part of the process to submit the SSDA903 returns to the DfE. This DfE return requires local authorities to submit details of the placements where their children are, using placement codes.

Children's Home K2

Placed for adoption A3 - A6

Placed with parents P1

Independent living and residential accommodation P2 and H5

Secure unit, Young offender institution or prison R5 and K1

Residential schools not registered as children's homes S1

Other placements M1 - M3, P3, R1 - R3, Z1

Children’s homes inspections and outcomes, Ofsted, 2013 (quarterly) available: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/official-statistics-childrens-social-care-inspections-and-outcomes

Biehal, N., Ellison, S., Baker, C. & Sinclair, I. (2010) Belonging and Permanence: Outcomes in Long-term Foster Care and Adoption, London, BAAF