The Department for Education (DfE) has released data on the stability of placements, school provision, and professional support for children in care in England. The statistics are based on children in care on 31 March 2024. Key findings include:

• 10% of children had experienced three or more placements in the past year, a slight decrease from 11% in 2023.
• 8% of children experienced at least one mid-year school move.
• The proportion of children looked after experiencing high social worker instability (3 or more social workers during the year) in 2024 was 27%. Children looked after aged under 1 year experienced the highest social worker instability – 34%.
• 1 in 100 children looked after experienced high instability in all three stability measures (placement, school and social worker) in 2024. There is little variation between different characteristics groups.