Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children account for about 22% of entries into care, report finds

The report, produced by the Centre for Care and commissioned by Family Rights Group, takes a detailed look at Department for Education data for 2021–2025, and highlights changes in the profile of children entering care.

In 2024-25, there were 32,270 recorded entries into care, representing around 29,630 distinct children, once transfers between local authorities were accounted for.

According to the report, more than half of children entering care are now aged 10 or over, while the proportion aged 16+ has risen from 20% in 2021 to 28% in 2025.

The report’s authors noted: “Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are an important part of this changing picture, particularly among older teenage entrants.”

The analysis also found a significant change in how children in care are being accommodated.

The report said: “The overall number of looked-after children has changed relatively little, but foster care has declined as a proportion of care arrangements, while residential and supported or semi-independent accommodation has expanded sharply.

“Between 2021 and 2025, the number of children in these residential and supported settings increased from 11,360 to 17,000 – a rise of around 50% – while kinship foster care has remained comparatively stable and slightly increased in relative importance.”

Looking at children’s pathways through care, the report found that among those leaving care in 2024–25, 28% had been looked after for less than six months, while the average completed spell was just under two and a half years.

The authors observed: “While a large proportion of exits occur as young people reach 18, exits before adulthood are disproportionately concentrated among very young children, through routes including reunification, kinship care, special guardianship and adoption. These averages therefore conceal markedly different experiences of care.”

Looking at the impact of where a child lives, the report found that in 2025, local authority rates of children in care ranged from 27 to 184 per 10,000 children – roughly a seven-fold difference.

Describing the geographical inequalities as “persistent”, the report meanwhile identified “important unanswered questions” about the role of poverty, ethnicity, local services, legal routes and other factors.

Lottie Winson