Children taken into care by the council - Find a freedom of information request

Can you please provide the number of children taken into care by the council where a central reason for the decision was the family's homelessness, in each of the last five financial years (2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23).

There were 1462 Children that started in care during the 5 year period.

To determine whether Homelessness was a central issue in the case would require detailed analysis of the supporting case notes and files.

This would take in excess of 18 hours , i.e. 1462 cases at 5 minutes each would take over 120 hours.

Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information 2000 does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit is currently £450 or 18 hours at a cost of £25 per hour.

The exemption under section 12 is not subject to the public interest test