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Looked after children
- Number of children helped to live at home
- Stability of placements for looked after children
- Percentage of children in three or more placements
- Looked after continuously for at least 2 ½ years
- Health of looked after children
- Absenteeism of looked after children
- Care leavers not in education, employment or training (NEET)
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The term 'looked after' was introduced by the Children Act 1989. Children become looked after when their birth parents are unable to provide ongoing care in either a temporary or permanent capacity. Children can either be looked after as a result of voluntary agreement by their parents or as the result of a care order.
At the end of March 2008, there were 155 children and young people who were looked after by the local authority, a rate of 42 per 10,000 population under age 18. This shows a decrease from the previous years figures of 46 per 10,000 which was slightly higher than Herefordshire's statistical neighbours1, 40 per 10,000 population under 18 but better than England as a whole 55 per 10,000 population under 18.
57% of the children looked after are aged between 13 and 17 years old.
Stability of placements for looked after children
The following indicators monitor the stability of care placements for 'looked after' young people by measuring the number of care placements during the year and over the longer term. Changing placements can be detrimental to a child's emotional, social and, in particular, educational development so the aim is to keep children in the same placement or make one move where necessary. However, the circumstances of some individual children may require 3 or more separate placements during a year if they and others are to be kept safe.
Chart 1. Percentage of looked after children at 31 March with 3 or more placements during the year for Herefordshire and comparator areas
In 2007-08, 6% of looked after children had 3 or more placements during the year. This is an improvement on last year (9%) and still well above the median of all English authorities and Herefordshire's statistical neighbours1. 
Chart 2. Percentage of children aged under 16 at March 31 who had been looked after continuously for at least 2 ½ years, who had lived in the same placement for at least two years, or were placed for adoption.
Over the last year Herefordshire has seen a large improvement in the percentage of children who had been looked after continuously for at least 2 ½ years, who had lived in the same placement for at least 2 years, or were placed for adoption. This now places Herefordshire above the median of all English authorities and its statistical neighbours. This will hopefully place Herefordshire back in line with the top performing authorities (top quartile) as it was in 2004-05.
The term 'looked after' was introduced by the Children Action 1989. Children become looked after when their birth parents are unable to provide ongoing care in either a temporary or permanent capacity. Children can either be looked after as a result of voluntary agreement by their parents or as the result of a care order.
This is monitored by taking the average of two indicators relating to health assessments and dental check ups. Specifically the average of the percentages of looked after children2 who have had:
- their teeth checked by a dentist during the previous 12 months
- an annual health assessment during the previous 12 months
Chart 3. Average of percentages of looked after children who have had their teeth checked and a health assessment during the previous 12 months for Herefordshire and comparator areas.
During the previous 12 months, the average of the proportion of looked after children who had had a dental check and health assessment was 91%.
Previously Herefordshire's performance was just below or above the top quartile of all English authorities and above Herefordshire's statistical neighbours1, 87% in 2007-08.
In 2008-09, this equated to 100 out of the 110 looked after children visiting the dentist in the last 12 months and 101 having a health assessment.
Absenteeism for Looked After Children
Herefordshire Council has responsibility for ensuring that the children it looks after3 are given the maximum opportunity to benefit from education. Absenteeism rates for looked after children are monitored by two methods:
- number of half days missed as a proportion of all half days (as described above)
- number of looked after children who missed 25 days or more as a proportion of all looked after children.
It is worth noting that the number of looked after children in Herefordshire is low, so percentages based on these low numbers are subject to large changes.
Chart 4. Percentage of half days were missed by looked after children in PRIMARY schools
Source:Children and Young Peoples Directorate, Herefordshire Council
In the academic year 2007-08, 4.2% half days were missed by looked after children in primary schools. This is an improvement on 2004-05, 4.7% but worse than last year, 3.8%. Current figures have achieved the target of 4.5% or less.
Chart 5. Percentage of half days were missed by looked after children in SECONDARY schools
Absenteeism rates for looked after children in secondary schools were slightly higher, with current rates at 9.0% of half days were missed in 2007-08. This was an increase from 7.7% in 2004-05 and a large increase from 2006-07, 6.8%. Unfortunately, the rate of 9.0% in 2007-08, was above the target of 7.2% half days missed or fewer.
Chart 6. Percentage of children who had been looked after continuously for at least 12 months and were of school age who missed a total of at least 25 days schooling for any reason during the previous year for Herefordshire and English Authorities
Employment, education and training for care leavers
Research shows that young people who leave care experience high levels of unemployment and are at risk of homelessness and social exclusion. This indicator shows the performance of local authorities in improving outcomes for young people leaving care, so they are enabled to achieve, to make a positive contribution and to be offered the opportunity to secure their future economic well-being.
This indicator is being monitored in two ways:
- actual numbers of looked after young people who left care who are in education, employment or training
- ratio of the percentage of those who were looked after who were engaged in education, employment or training against the percentage of all young people in the population that were engaged in education, employment or training
In 2007-08, Herefordshire was doing very well with 16 young people (out of a total of 17) engaged in education, employment or training.
For the purpose of making comparisons with other areas a ratio is used. This indicator was presented in this format for the first time in 2004-05, see chart 7.
Chart 7. Ratio of the percentage of those YP who were looked after on 1st April in their 17th year, who were engaged in EET at the age of 19, to the percentage of YP in the population who were engaged in EET at age 19.
Source: Children and Young Peoples Directorate, Herefordshire Council
Herefordshire compares favourably to England generally and its statistical neighbours1. In 2007-08, Herefordshire had a ratio of 1.06, meaning that the proportion of care leavers in education, employment or training was above that of the general population. This was also the case for the previous 2 years.
1
2 Who had been looked after continuously for at least 12 months
3 Children become looked after when their birth parents are unable to provide ongoing care in either a temporary or permanent capacity. Children can either be looked after as a result of voluntary agreement by their parents or as the result of a care order.
Download data: Looked after children
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Looked After Children Absenteeism
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Health of looked after children (HC) 2001-2009
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