Methodology document: SFR41/2015
Source: data.gov.uk (2017-07-05)

Characteristics of children in need: 2014 to 2015. Characteristics of children in need: 2014 to 2015 Children referred to and assessed by children's social services for the financial year ending March 2015. The ‘main text’ document includes information on: children in need of social services children referred to social services assessments of children in need and their primary need at first assessment section 47 enquiries (a local authority carries out one of these if they suspect a child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm) and initial child protection conferences children who were the subject of a child protection plan The ‘main tables’ and first ‘methodology’ document relate to this publication. We subsequently published the ‘outcomes tables’, showing figures that result from matching the children in need census to the national pupil database (NPD). These tables show children in need by: prevalence of free school meals (FSM) special educational needs (SEN) attainment absence and exclusions The ‘outcomes methodology’ document explains the matching process and calculations we used in these tables.

Characteristics of 
children in need in 
England: 2014 to 
2015 
Methodology document 
October 2015 

2 
Contents 
1. 
Collection summary 
3 
2. 
Background 
4 
3. 
Data cleaning 
6 
4. 
Data processing 
7 
Defining counts of children in need 
7 
Counting number of referrals and assessments completed 
7 
Section 47 enquiries and initial child protection conferences 
9 
Children who were the subject of a child protection plan 
9 
5. 
Accounting for missing data 
11 
Estimates 
11 
6. 
Process map 
12 
7. 
Definitions 
13 
Referrals 
13 
Referrals leading to no further action 
13 
Assessment 
13 
Child in need 
13 
Initial child protection conferences and child protection plans 
14 
Child protection plan reviews 
14 
Children who cease to be the subject of a plan 
14 

3 
1.  Collection summary 
The children in need census collects information on: 
 any child referred to children’s social care services within the year and  
 any cases open at the beginning of the year for whom local authorities were 
providing a service. 
The collection of the data from each local authority allows the local and national level 
calculation of information on the numbers of referrals and assessments carried out by 
children’s social care services, along with the identification of the number of children 
assessed to be in need and the numbers who were the subject of a child protection plan. 

4 
2. Background 
The children in need census is a child level data collection which records individual 
assessment information and child characteristics for each child who has been referred to 
children’s social care services. 
The 2014 to 2015 children in need census captured child level information on children 
referred to and assessed by children’s social care services within the 12 month period 1 
April 2014 to 31 March 2015. The census includes any child referred to children’s social 
care services within the year and also any cases open at 1 April 2014 for whom local 
authorities were providing a service, for example: 
 active case work 
 making regular payments 
 where funding or on-going services such as respite care has been agreed 
 maintaining a child with care and accommodation 
 a commitment to review the case at a predetermined date 
 maintaining a child’s name on a register that ensures the child and family 
receives targeted information or other special consideration 
The 2014 to 2015 census was the sixth full year of the new children in need census. A 
collection covering a reduced 6 month period was carried out in 2008-09 to collect 
information from the 1 October 2008 to 31 March 2009 and following this a full year 
collection was introduced from 2009 to 2010. 
A number of local authorities struggled to provide a complete, clean children in need 
return in the first full census in 2009-10. On completion of the collection, a Departmental 
review of the children in need census was carried out alongside the Munro review which 
resulted in some data items being removed from the 2010 to 2011 collection onward. 
Local authorities were no longer asked to return information on: 
 duration and types of services provided to children in need 
 information on the status of cases open at the end of the year 
 a flag to identify looked after children who had been adopted 
 a flag to identify asylum seeking children and the date they ceased to be 
asylum seeking 
 reasons for missing unique pupil numbers (UPN) 
For 2008 to 2009 and earlier, information on referrals, assessments and child protection 
plans was collected through the aggregate ‘Child Protection and Referrals’ (CPR3) 
return. The introduction of the children in need census meant there was no longer a need 
to collect CPR3 and so it was discontinued after the 2008 to 2009 collection. The 2008 to 
2009 period was a year where both collections were dual run. As mentioned, the children 
in need census was for 6 months of the year only, so CPR3 was the definitive data 
source for 2008 to 2009. 

5 
Although the information collected between the two returns is similar, the move from the 
emphasis being on local authorities to calculate indicators and return aggregate level 
information, to a child level national return where indicators are calculated by the 
Department for Education, mean that the figures are not directly comparable between the 
two returns. An example of this issue is that the aggregate returns were subject to a 
limited degree of local interpretation of definitions, for example, one key indicator looked 
at whether reviews were within the required timescales of three and six months. On 
moving to a centrally calculated indicator we identified that three and six months had 
been interpreted differently in different local authorities. 
Further information on the comparability of figures between the children in need census 
and the CPR3 collection can be found in section 3 of the accompanying data quality 
document. 
The data items collected in the children in need census includes child identifiers and 
characteristics along with the dates of any referrals, assessments, section 47 enquiries 
and child protection plans and reviews. Local authorities submitted data for 2014 to 2015 
to DfE in summer 2015 and information has been published in this statistical first release. 

6 
3. Data cleaning 
The data is collected through the DfE COLLECT (collections online for learning, 
education, children and teachers) system. Local authorities upload their data extract into 
COLLECT where a series of validation rules run against each upload upon loading into 
the system to identify any errors and queries with the data. Local authorities then have a 
period of time in which to resolve these errors and clean the data in their return before 
submitting a final return by the end of July. Guidance notes advising on the content of the 
return and a full list of validation rules are available on the children in need census 
collection website. 
Once data has been submitted by the local authority the DfE carry out a series of further 
data credibility checks so that we can make an assessment of the confidence we have in 
the data returned. Further details of these checks can be found in the ‘Data confidence 
indicator’ section (section 4) of the accompanying data quality document. 

7 
4. Data processing 
Defining counts of children in need 
The number of children in need is a key indicator, however there is no flag on the dataset 
to identify these children. Instead, it must be derived using a combination of other data 
items provided in the data return. Key data items for calculating the numbers of children 
in need are: 
 referral date 
 referral NFA (flag identifying whether the referral resulted in no further action) 
 reason for closure code 
The methodology used to calculate the children in need numbers (table B1) of the 
publication is in the table below.  
Children in need 
We have defined these as referrals excluding cases where: 
a. The referral is flagged as being a referral resulting in no 
further action in 2014 to 2015; or 
b. The only activity recorded was an assessment and the 
reason for the closure of the case being that the case was 
closed after assessment with no further action. 
Children starting  
an episode of  
need 
These are children in need (defined above) where the 
referral is within the 2014 to 2015 year. 
Children ending  
an episode of 
need  
These are children in need (defined above) where the case 
was closed in 2014 to 2015. 
Children in need  
throughout the  
year 
These are children in need (defined above) with an 
episode of need open at some point within the 2014 to 
2015 year. Note: These are NOT children who have been 
in need for the whole of the year. 
Children in need  
at 31 March 
These are children in need (defined above) where the 
referral date is on or before 31 March 2015 and there is no 
closure date. 
 
Counting number of referrals and assessments completed 
Number of referrals 
Figures are a count of referrals within the collection year (1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015). 

8 
Number of assessments completed 
Figures are a count of assessments with an assessment authorisation date recorded 
within the collection year (1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015).  
Duration of assessments 
The durations of completed assessments published this year are consistent with the last 
two years but differ from those pre 2012 to 2013. Since 2012 to 2013 the actual 
assessment start date has been collected. But for 2011 to 2012 and earlier, we collected 
the date the statutory timescale began.  So, whereas in past publications the durations 
represented the timeliness of completing the assessment in relation to the trigger event, 
from 2012 to 2013 the durations shown are the actual number of working days between 
the assessment being started and being authorised. 
Calculating referrals within 12 months of a previous referral 
Figures are calculated by using the 2013 to 2014 data and the 2014 to 2015 data. 
Figures are a count of the number of referrals within 12 months of a previous referral, 
calculated as follows: 
Select the referrals that occurred between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2015 in the 2014 to 
2015 data. 
Select the referrals that occurred between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2014 in the 2013 to 
2014 data, but remove any duplicated children, keeping the latest referral for the child. 
The two datasets are merged together and the difference in days between consecutive 
pairs of referral dates is counted by comparing referral 1 to referral 2, referral 2 to referral 
3, etc. The pair is added to the count of re-referrals if the difference between the pair of 
dates is 365 days or less. 
Calculating referrals resulting in no further action 
For referrals within 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015, if the ‘ReferralNFA’ flag is equal to ‘1’ 
or ‘true’ then count the referral as one which resulted in no further action and exclude the 
case from any other populations. 
Calculating children assessed not to be in need at assessment 
If the referral is within the collection year (1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015) and is not 
counted as a referral resulting in no further action, we consider whether any other activity 
has been recorded against the referral (for example assessments, child protection plans). 
If the referral has only an assessment, and the referral has a closure reason of “RC8 – 
case closed after assessment, no further action”, then count as a child assessed not to 
be in need at assessment. 

9 
Factors identified at the end of assessment 
For factors identified at the end of assessment we first select all those assessments 
authorised within the collection year (1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015). The file is then 
condensed down to one row per CIN details record and we aggregate factors identified 
across all assessments on the CIN details record, removing duplicate factors from the 
count.  
Section 47 enquiries and initial child protection conferences 
Number of section 47 enquiries 
Figures are a count of cases where the section 47 actual start date is present and within 
the collection year (1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015). Any duplicates (based on section 47 
actual start date) are removed. 
Number of initial child protection conferences taking place 
Figures are summed from two parts of the return: 
1. 
From the section 47 module (where conferences should be recorded when they 
are the result of section 47 enquiries). Using data in the section 47 module of the return, 
cases are selected where the date of initial child protection conference is present and 
within the collection year (1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015). Any duplicates (based on date 
of initial child protection conference) are removed. 
2. 
From the children in need details module (where conferences should be recorded 
when children who are the subject of a child protection plan transfer into the local 
authority). Using data in the children in need details module of the return, cases are 
selected where the date of initial child protection conference is present and within the 
collection year (1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015). These cases are merged with the cases 
identified in part 1 so that where the recorded date of initial child protection conference is 
the same, we remove these duplicates from the count. 
Children who were the subject of a child protection plan 
The methodology used to calculate the children who were the subject of a child 
protection plan is given in the table below. 
 
Child protection  
plans starting 
in the year 
A count of the child protection plan start dates where the 
date lies within the collection year (1 April 2014 to 31 
March 2015). 

10 
Child protection  
plans throughout 
the year 
A count of the child protection plans where the start 
dates are before 31 March 2015 and the end date is on 
or after 1 April 2014 (or is missing). 
Child protection  
plans ending  
in the year 
A count of the child protection plan end dates where the 
date lies within the collection year (1 April 2014 to 31 
March 2015). 

11 
5. Accounting for missing data 
All 152 local authorities provided a return for the 2014-15 collection, however not all local 
authorities could provide all items in the return. As in 2013 to 2014, we did not accept any 
aggregate data from local authorities for 2014 to 2015. 
Estimates 
In cases where no data was available, the missing data was estimated and incorporated 
into the headline total figures for England.  
Estimates for key figures eg children in need at 31 March or the number of referrals in the 
year were estimated by applying the 2014 to 2015 national rate based upon known data, 
to the 2014 to 2015 population estimate for the missing authority.  
Where further breakdowns of the key figures are provided, e.g. children in need at 31 
March by primary need, the national totals for these breakdowns (e.g. primary need) are 
derived by applying the grossing factor used to arrive at the national total in the table 
(e.g. children in need at 31 March) to the known totals in each category (e.g. primary 
need). 
 
 

12 
6. Process map 
The process map that is shown in the figure below covers the end to end process of the 
children in need census, from data collection through to publication of the statistical first 
release. 
 
Definitions: 
CIN:   
Children in need 
LA:  
 
Local authority 
OPS:   
DfE Operational Helpdesk 
TDU:   
DfE Technical Development Unit 
CEYDU:  
DfE Children and Early Years Data Unit  
DCIs:  
Data confidence indicators 
QA: 
 
Quality assurance 
SFR:  
Statistical first release 
 
 

13 
7. Definitions 
The full guidance notes relating to the children in need census can be viewed on children 
in need census collection website.  
The definitions of the key aspects of the referral, assessment and registration process 
are shown below. 
Referrals 
A referral is defined for the purposes of the children in need census as ‘a request for 
services to be provided by children’s social care services’. This is in respect of a case 
where the child is not previously known to the council, or where the case was previously 
open but is now closed. A referral should not be recorded if there is a case for the child 
already open. A referral can be made by a professional from one of many different 
agencies (typically in the health and education sectors) but the term as used here is a 
broad one which encompasses referrals from any source, including self-referrals. 
Referrals leading to no further action 
On receipt of a referral the local authority has one working day to decide what further 
work needs to be done. If more investigation is needed then an assessment will be 
carried out. However, it may be that the referral can be resolved by providing some 
information, or referring to another agency or in some cases, no further action at all is 
needed. Thresholds, for deciding if further action is required, can vary from one local 
authority to another. 
Assessment 
Assessment of any child who has been referred to children’s social care services with a 
request that services be provided. Statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard 
Children’ was revised in 2013 giving local authorities more flexibility when assessing 
children. Previously, local authorities carried out an initial assessment within 10 working 
days and (where needed) a more in-depth core assessment within 35 working days. 
Local authorities now have the flexibility to carry out a single continuous assessment 
within 45 working days. 
Child in need 
A child in need is a child who has been assessed through an assessment to be in need 
of social care services.  

14 
Initial child protection conferences and child protection plans 
Where concerns about a child’s welfare are substantiated and the agencies most 
involved judge that a child may continue to suffer, or be at risk of suffering significant 
harm, the social care services department should convene an initial child protection 
conference. The purpose of the conference is to draw together the information that has 
been obtained and to make judgements on whether the child is at continuing risk of 
significant harm and whether he or she therefore requires a child protection plan to be 
put in place. It is set out in the inter-agency guidance “Working Together to Safeguard 
Children” that an initial child protection conference should take place within 15 working 
days of the strategy discussion which decided whether section 47 enquiries should be 
initiated. The conference will result in a decision on whether the child will become the 
subject of a plan or not. 
Child protection plan reviews 
Once a child becomes the subject of a child protection plan, their plan should be 
reviewed within the first 3 months and then at intervals of not more than 6 months. 
Children who cease to be the subject of a plan 
A child will cease to be the subject of a plan if:  
1. 
it is judged that the child is no longer at continuing risk of significant harm requiring 
safeguarding by means of a child protection plan (e.g. the risk of harm has been reduced 
by action taken through the child protection plan; the child and family’s circumstances 
have changed; or re-assessment of the child and family indicates that a child protection 
plan is not necessary). Under these circumstances, only a child protection review 
conference can decide that the child being the subject of a plan is no longer necessary; 
2. 
the child and family have moved permanently to another local authority area. In 
such cases, the receiving local authority should convene a child protection conference 
within 15 working days of being notified of the move, only after which event may a child 
cease to be the subject of a plan in respect of the original local authority’s plan; 
3. 
the child has reached 18 years of age, has died or has permanently left the UK. 

15 
 
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