Children in Care
(asked on 8th March 2017) - View Source
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the cost of the care system for looked-after children in England and Wales for each year from 2006 to 2016.
Since April 2010, local authorities in England have reported spending on children looked after through an annual return to the department (Section 251 returns; available on GOV.UK).
Local authority net current expenditure on children looked after in England: 2005-2006 to 2015-2016 (£, billions)
2005-2006 | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 | 2008-2009 | 2009-2010 | 2010-2011 | 2011-2012 | 2012-2013 | 2013-2014 | 2014-2015 | 2015-2016 |
N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 2.9 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.8 |
Source: Section 251 returns
Note: 2011-12 and 2012-13 figures are not directly comparable due to changes in the categories included between the two years.
In addition, spending on social work directly involved with the care of children and with the commissioning of services for children is captured separately within the Section 251 collection. It is not possible to separate out expenditure for social work related to children looked after only.
The department does not hold this information for Wales.