Every year the Scottish Government publishes Looked After Children Statistics for Scotland that includes data on children who are looked after*, young people in continuing care, and young people eligible for aftercare services. The statistics for 2024/25 are here:

Looked after children and young people

The statistics revealed that for looked after children:

• On 31 July 2025, 11,824 children were looked after, compared to 11,780 on 31 July 2024, and down 23% since 2014-15 (15,400).
• The rate of children looked after per 1,000 children slightly increased to 11.8 in 2025 from 11.6 per 1,000 children in 2024. This represents a marginal rise since the previous year, up to which there had been a steady decline since a peak in 2011.
• A total of 2,411 looked after children were looked after at home. This is a 5% increase since 2024 (2,298) but down 39% overall since 2014-15.
• This accounts for 20% of looked after children, consistent with the previous two years but an overall decrease from 25% in 2015.
• On 31 July 2025, the most common placements away from home were kinship care (35%), foster care (28%), and residential accommodation (12%).

Read the full report here.

Continuing Care

Continuing Care is the continued provision of the accommodation and other assistance that was being provided by the local authority immediately before the young person ceased to be looked after. Only children who cease to be looked after aged 16 years or over and were looked after away from home are eligible for Continuing Care. Continuing Care has been available to eligible care leavers from April 2015, enabling eligible young people aged 16 or older to stay in the same kinship, foster or residential care placements when they ceased to be looked after. The 'higher age' for continuing care eligibility rose annually as part of a roll out strategy. Continuing Care became fully operational in April 2020, allowing all eligible care-leavers to remain in their care setting from age 16 until their 21st birthday

• During 2024-25, 958 young people aged 16 years or over ceased to be looked after and were eligible for continuing care. Of these, 38% (367) entered continuing care. This is compared to 32% (327) entering continuing care in 2023-24.
• On 31 July 2025, 1,155 young people were in continuing care, 23% of those who were eligible for continuing care at the time of ceasing to be looked after (4,927). This is a similar proportion to the previous year when 22% of those eligible were in continuing care (1,115).
• On 31 July 2025, an estimated 9,386 young people were eligible for aftercare services. 4,545 (48% of those eligible, compared to a revised estimate of 51% for the previous year) were receiving aftercare services. 1,951 (54%) of those in aftercare were in education, training or employment - a similar proportion to the previous year when 2,049 young people were in education, training or employment (54%).

Read the report here.

Aftercare

From April 2015, aftercare eligibility has been extended to cover all care leavers up to and including people aged 25 where it previously only covered up to their 21st birthday. This extension of the original policy has now reached maturity so age groups entering eligibility for aftercare should broadly equal those sufficiently mature to leave aftercare.

• On 31 July 2025, 4,545 were receiving aftercare services – a 2% increase from 4,459 receiving services in 2024.
• 9,386 young people were eligible for aftercare services – a 8% increase from a revised estimate of 8,680 eligible in 2024. 48% of those eligible were receiving aftercare services compared to a revised estimate of 51% in 2024.
• Of the 3,634 young people in aftercare from whom economic status is known, 1,951 of them were in education, training or employment.

Read the report here.

Child protection

• On 31 July 2025, 2,087 children were on the child protection register, representing a 1% decrease on 2024 (2,111) and a 24% decrease on 2015 (2,741).
• During the year, 3,023 children were registered onto the child protection register, representing a 5% decrease on 2023-24 (3,164) and a 35% decrease on 2014-15 (4,401).
• During 2024-25, 17,336 children were subject of an inter-agency referral discussion in Scotland (rate of 17.0 per 1,000 children 0-17 years).
• Around half (48%) of children added to the child protection register in 2024-25 lived in one of the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland. This compares to 5% in the 20% least deprived areas in Scotland. This is similar to the pattern observed in 2023-24.
• Of the children being de-registered, almost half (49%) had been on the register for less than 6 months, the same proportion as in the previous year. A further 35% of children had been on the register for between 6 months and a year, compared to 37% in 2023-24.

Read the full report here.

Secure care

Secure care is used for a small number of young people who present high risk to themselves or others. A placement to secure care can only be authorised following a decision through the Children's Hearing System or a Court, or as an emergency placement for up to 72 hours before attending a hearing or court.

• During 2024-25, there were an average of 58 children in secure accommodation – down from an average of 60 children in 2023-24. There has been an overall decrease in the average number of children in secure care since 2020 (82).
• During 2024-25, 70 beds were available across four secure accommodation services in Scotland for those under the age of 18. This is a reduction from 78 beds in the previous two years and down from 84 beds between 2016-17 and 2021-22 .
• 128 admissions to secure accommodation took place during 2024-25 – a 14% decrease from the previous year (149). This continues a longer term trend in decreased admissions since 2016 (256).
• 136 discharges from secure accommodation took place during 2024-25 - a 9% decrease from the previous year (150) and the lowest number of discharges since 2017 (257). 

Read the full report here.

 

* The term ‘looked after’ is the formal legal term used in Scotland to refer to the local authority’s support for children in need of care and protection where their parents are unable to care for them without that support. Children may be ‘looked after’ at home or away from home.