Publication of ‘Children’s Social Care Statistics for Northern Ireland 2023/24’

Date published: 17 October 2024

Children in Need

• At 31 March 2024, 22,450 children in Northern Ireland were known to Social Services as a child in need;

Child Protection Register

• At 31 March 2024, 2,334 children were listed on the Child Protection Register;
• Neglect and physical abuse were the main reasons for a child being on the Child Protection Register and accounted for 81% of all on the Register;
• A total of 1,414 child protection referrals were received by HSC Trusts #1;
• There were 2,258 new registrations to the Child Protection Register and 2,065 de- registrations during the year.

Children in care

• At 31 March 2024, 3,999 children and young people were in care in Northern Ireland. This was the highest number recorded since the introduction of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995;
• Just over a quarter (28%) of looked after children at 31 March 2024 had come into care within the last year and a similar proportion (29%) had been in care for five years or longer.;
• Some five of six children in care were in foster care placements (84%), 6% placed with parents, 6% in residential care and 5% in other placements. This was similar to previous years;
• During 2023/24 there were 1,096 admissions to care and 866 discharges.

Children’s residential homes

• At 30 June 2024, there were 55 Children’s Residential Homes in Northern Ireland, 46 homes were statutory and 9 were independent.
• Statutory homes provided 268 places at an average of six places per home; independent homes provided 27 places at an average of three per home.

Children’s day care

• At 31 March 2024 there were 3,261 individuals/facilities registered as day care provision for children aged 12 and under in Northern Ireland. This was a 4% decrease on the previous year;
• Similar to the previous year, childminders made up the largest number of day care providers followed by playgroups;
• At 31 March 2024 there were 55,645 registered places for day care in Northern Ireland representing a decrease of 3% on the previous year.

Foster Carers

• At 31 March 2024, there were 2,639 HSC Trust recruited foster carers and a further 254 Independent sector foster carers;
• During 2023/24, 840 initial home visits were carried out by HSC Trusts and 451 fostering assessments were completed;
• During 2023/24, some 398 foster carers recruited by the HSC Trusts de-registered as carers.

Young people subject to Leaving Care Act

• At 31 March 2024 there were 1,850 young people subject to the Leaving Care Act;
• Some 50% had both a named social worker and a personal adviser #2;
• Of those who had left care, a quarter (29%) were living in a GEM arrangement whilst 18% were living independently.

#1 Referrals in regards to children without an open social work case file.
#2 A small number of young people are not included in the calculation due to being in the process of having a social worker and/or personal adviser assigned.