Identifying Previously Looked After Children (PCLA)
The school census requires the school to identify CLA and PCLA children within their school. It may be difficult to identify the Previously Looked After Children (PCLA) within a setting if you haven’t been informed by adoptive / SGO parents of their status.
Children previously looked-after are those who are no longer looked after by a local authority in England and Wales (as defined by the Children Act 1989 or Part 6 of the Social Services and Well- being (Wales) Act 2014) because they are the subject of:
- an adoption
- special guardianship or
- child arrangements order; or
- were adopted from ‘state care’ outside England and Wales. ‘State care’ is care provided by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other organisation whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society.
A child who has returned home to live with birth parent(s), having been in care (as defined by the Children Act 1989 or Part 6 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014), is not defined as a child previously looked-after.
Schools may wish to adapt this PCLA letter template and send to all families as a way of finding out if there are any further PCLA at the school. Each PCLA on the census brings Pupil Premium Plus funding to the school and therefore can be a worthwhile exercise. There is Admissions Code guidance that helps school to verify PCLA status.
Coding Previously Looked After Children (PCLA) on the Census
Guidance on completing the school census is available to help schools through this process. If a child is adopted from oversees, schools will now be able to enter an additional code – ‘O’ for overseas adoption from state care outside of England and Wales.