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Story published on July 05, 2002

Children in need

The Department of Health have released a report summarising the provisional results of a survey of Children in Need and the activity and expenditure reported by Social Services in respect of provision for Children in Need in a "typical" week in September/October 2001.

The figures update an earlier survey - the first of its kind - in February 2000.

Here are the results in summary:
Numbers of Children in Need

  • There were approximately 376,000 Children in Need in England in 2001;
  • 69,000 of them were Children Looked After and the remaining 307,000 were other Children in Need;
  • Social Services are providing services for nearly a quarter of a million Children in Need in a typical week;
  • 90% of Children Looked After and 52% of other Children in Need receive a service or have money spent on their behalf in a typical week (either in terms of staff/centre time or in terms of cost of the Local Authority paying for provision needed - e.g. residential costs);
  • Authorities report about 12,600 asylum seeking children in need.

    Characteristics of Children in Need

  • The main need for social service intervention for children is cases of "abuse and neglect" which account for just over half (55%) of all Children Looked After and 26% of other Children in Need;
  • About 13% of the Children in Need population are disabled, and they received 15% of gross expenditure on Children in Need;
  • At least 17% of Children in Need are from ethnic minorities (which is almost twice the figure for the under 18 population as a whole from the census).

    Costs and resources

  • Services for Children in Need cost Social Services on average about £50m per week, £31m per week on Children Looked After, and £19m per week on other Children in Need;
  • Nearly half of these Children's costs are accounted for by regular payments (on residential/fostering/adoption costs) for Children Looked After;
  • The average Child Looked After costs Social services £500 per week; and other Children in Need cost £120 per week

    Activity

  • The average Child Looked After receives 3.4 hours per week of service from Social Work staff either in teams or centres, of which 0.2 hours is in group work;
  • Other Children in Need receive on average about 2.4 hours per week of staff or centre time, of which 0.6 hours is group work .

    Comparison with 2000 census

  • The number of children receiving services fell by 3%; the number of Children Looked After receiving services rose by 8% but this was offset by a fall of 6% in the numbers of children supported in their families and receiving a service.
  • The cost of providing services to Children in Need rose by about 26% from £40.1m per week in 2000 to £50.4m per week in 2001;
  • The average amount spent per child per week on Children in Need rose by just under 30%; the increase for Children Looked After was 15% from £435 per week to £500 per week, and for children supported in their families up 33% from £90 per week to £120 per week.

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