Local Authority

The education background of looked-after children who interact with the criminal justice system: December 2022

Educational attainment and provision, social care background and demographics of looked-after children educated in England who subsequently received a custodial sentence.

  • More than half (52%) of looked-after children born in the academic year ending 1994 who attended school in England had a criminal conviction by the age of 24 years compared with 13% of children who had not been in care.
  • Imprisonment was a relatively unusual outcome, however, 1 in 7 (15%) looked-after children had received an immediate custodial sentence by the age of 24 years; that is over 10 times the proportion of children who had not been in care.
  • A further 37% of looked-after children had received a non-custodial conviction, such as a fine or caution; this is compared with 12% of children who had not been in care.
  • 1 in 4 (24%) looked-after children who were male had received an immediate custodial sentence compared with 2% of male children who had not been in care.
  • Looked-after children were more likely to have been identified as having special educational needs (SEN); among looked-after children who received an immediate custodial sentence by age 24 years, 9 in 10 (92%) had been identified with SEN.

How EIE can support Children Looked After & Care Leavers

Children Looked After (CLA) and Care Leavers (CL) are among the most vulnerable Individuals in society and have multiple complex needs. CLA are criminalised and enter the youth justice system at an early age, with many serving a sentence in custody. CLA and CL’s risk factors can increase when they have multiple placement breakdowns, live in poor neighbourhoods, engage with antisocial peer groups, experience deprivation, bullying, and others.

EIE aims to assist social services in safeguarding LAC and CL’s to support them with their everyday challenges by providing interventions to tackle their social, emotional, and challenging behaviour difficulties. EIE ensures excellent quality service for LAC and CL’s in a professional setting and promotes that every young individual should
be healthy, safe, enjoying and achieving, make a positive contribution, and achieve economic well-being.

Our objective is that LAC and CL’s will make better choices and be resilient individuals.