Today, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has published information about the number of children subject to applications to deprive them of their liberty under the inherent jurisdiction of the high court (DoL applications) in their Family Court Statistics Quarterly release.
It shows that 299 children were subject to applications to deprive them of their liberty between April to June 2024 in England and Wales.
MoJ began collecting and publishing data about DoL applications under the inherent jurisdiction in July 2023. Prior to this, children subject to DoL applications did not appear in national administrative data.
What does this release of data show?
How many applications were made?
There were 299 applications – relating to 299 individual children – for DoL orders in the high court between April and June 2024. This compares to 318 applications (including 44 ‘repeat’ applications relating to the same child) over the same period last year, according to FJO data.
This suggests the number of children subject to DoL applications has remained consistent over the last 12 months.
How does this compare to applications for secure accommodation orders?
According to MoJ, over the same period (April to June 2024), there were 59 applications for secure accommodation orders to place children in a secure children’s home (see Figure 2). There was over 5 times the number of DoLs applications, compared to secure accommodation applications.
This reflects a growing trend where applications for DoL orders – which authorise the deprivation of a child’s liberty in an unregulated secure placement – vastly outnumber applications to place children in registered secure accommodation. There is severe shortage of places in secure children’s homes, with around 50 children waiting for a place on any given day.
What was the outcome of applications?
For the first time, the MoJ has published information about the legal orders made. It shows that of the 299 cases started from April to June, orders were made in 273 cases (91.3%).
How long are children subject to DoL orders?
For the first time, we can also see how long children are being subject to DoL orders.
For cases started between July and September of 2023 (when data was first available), final orders have been made in 269 cases. A quarter (24.9%) of children were still subject to a DoL order 12 months after the first order was made. 62.1% of children were subject to a DoL order for more than six months.
One-fifth of children (19.7%) were subject to orders for less than three months, and 18.2% for between three and six months.
What do we know about the children involved?
Over half of children (60.2%) were aged between 13-15 years, 29.8% were aged between 16 and 18, and 9.4% were 12 or under (see Figure 3). Data previously published by the FJO has shown that the majority of children subject to DoLs orders were 15 and above.
Just over half of all children were female (54.8%) and 44.5% were male (see Figure 4).
The MoJ data release does not tell us why the application was made, the ethnicity of children subject to applications, or whether a DoL order was made.
For further information about the needs and characteristics of children subject to DoLs applications, see here.
