Today, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) released the latest figures on the applications for the number of children subject to deprive them of their liberty under the inherent jurisdiction of the high court, through their Family Court Statistics Quarterly release.
Quarterly data from January-March 2025 shows that 321 children were subject to deprivation of liberty (DoL) applications, which authorise the deprivation of a child’s liberty in an unregulated secure placement. This is consistent with the 321 DoL applications for the previous quarter, October-December 2024, and compares to 290 applications for the equivalent quarter last year (Jan-March 2024). Since data began to be collected by the MoJ in July 2023, there have been 2,252 applications for deprivation of liberty orders.
The data this quarter reflects the persistent use of DoL orders, and their increase over the last seven years. Patterns of gender and age also remain broadly consistent with DoL orders of previous quarters; slightly more female (53%) than male (46%), the majority are aged between 13-15 (55%) and 90% over the age of 13. (see Figures 3-4).
What are Deprivation of Liberty orders?
Deprivation of liberty orders (DoLs) authorise the deprivation of children in what are often unsuitable, unregulated settings to keep them safe in the absence of other options (such as a secure children’s home) and are driven by short-term crisis planning. Children on deprivation of liberty orders are often described as having ‘complex needs’, which Nuffield Family Justice Observatory research has highlighted are primarily related to mental health concerns, self-harm and risk to others. Many of these children will have long and traumatic histories of care; however it is often the combined impact of multiple, intersecting needs – rather than the impact or ‘severity’ of any individual risk factor – that increases a child’s vulnerability within this system.
The number of DoLs applications were not published in administrative MoJ data until July 2023, but research by the NFJO has highlighted the increasing use of DoLs over the past seven years. Data from Cafcass showed that in 2017/18, there was around 100 applications. In 2024, 1280 children were subject to applications to deprive them of their liberty, a seven-fold increase.1
What does this release of data show?
How many applications were made?
Between January and March 2025, there were 321 applications in the High Court, relating to 321 children. Since July 2023 (when the MoJ began collecting data), there have been a total of 2,252 applications to deprive children of their liberty, resulting in 2,046 orders being made.
How does this compare to applications for secure accommodation orders?
DoLs orders still vastly outnumber applications to place children in registered secure accommodation (quarterly numbers). There is a severe shortage of secure children’s homes. The most recent data shows that 72 children were accommodated in secure children’s homes. Although this is an increase from 65 the year before, they are still significantly outnumbered by children on DoLs.
What do we know about the children involved?
There is limited data about the characteristics of children on DoLs orders. From what we do know about the age of children on DoLs, these have remained broadly consistent. Over half of children (55%) subject to applications between January and March 2025 were aged between 13-15 years old, 35% were aged between 16 and 18, and 10% were 12 or under (see Figure 3).
Our previous research has highlighted that nearly all children (97%) on DoLs were in care at the time of a DoL application, and had complex needs and circumstances which include placement breakdown, mental health concerns, extrafamilial risk factors such as sexual or criminal exploitation.
What are the next steps for DoLs?
Ongoing policy and practice discussions, convened by the NFJO and other partners, continues to explore best practice for health, education and children’s social care services to deliver coordinated and holistic care for children deprived of their liberty. In April 2025, we hosted the Back to Their Futures Summit, which highlighted both children’s experiences and opportunities for change and innovation in the sector. In particular, how multi-agency systems can respond to children’s intersecting needs, going beyond a focus on managing risk to provide wraparound support that is timely, appropriate and needs-focused.
This momentum for change is reflected in current legislative reforms. In the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, proposed amendments to Section 25 of the Children’s Act will provide a statutory framework for allowing children to be deprived of their liberty in ‘relevant accommodation’ other than a secure children’s home.
As our evidence to the Public Bill Committee highlighted, these proposals present an opportunity to develop a robust statutory framework that lays out clear criteria for the grounds for deprivation of liberty, strong safeguards about the standard of care and a focus on the long-term outcomes for children who have been subject to such restrictions. In particular, we have called for the deprivation of liberty of a child to be seen as a measure of last resort.
For further information about the needs and characteristics of children subject to DoLs applications, see here.
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