This dataset was developed from statutory returns submitted annually to the Welsh Government by each Welsh Local Authority prior to the Social Services and Wellbeing Act (2014) coming into force. It covers the period up to the end of March 2016.
The return comprises of individual level data for those with open cases for the 3 months prior to the census date of 31st March including those identified pre-birth as being a child in need. In addition to demographic data including disability, information is also available about parental circumstances, and selected health and educational outcomes.
Coverage is wider than for the LACW return as this includes all children who were on a Child in Need Plan. Those looked after or on the child protection register are subsets of this data.
| Data Owner | Welsh Government |
| Earliest Data | Reflecting the year to 31st March 2010 |
| Last Data | 2015-2016 |
| Frequency of Updates | No longer updated |
| Lag in Updates Becoming Available | No longer updated as the Children in Need return was replaced by the Children Receiving Care and Support Census following the implementation of the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014, in April 2016. |
Meta Data
| ADR UK Catalogue | https://datacatalogue.adruk.org/browser/dataset?id=7080348336897899698&origin=3 |
| Health Data Gateway | https://web.www.healthdatagateway.org/dataset/e4f6d9a8-88d0-4781-b192-cd165451b272 |
| Data Resource | Lee, A., Elliott, M., Scourfield, J., Bedston., S, Broadhurst, K., Ford, D.V. and Griffiths, L. (2022) Data Resource: Children receiving care and support and children in need, administrative records in Wales. International Journal of Population Data Science 7(1). doi: 10.23889/ijpds.v7i1.1694 |
| Data Insight | None |
| Other useful publications | N/A |
Other useful information
Due to the anonymization process, not all data fields referred to in the local authority guidance are available for use by researchers. However, this resource provides a useful starting point for understanding what was collected and the legal framework that sat behind the codes used.
Direct comparisons cannot be made between the CiNW and CRCS data due to changes in the legislative framework.
