Educational Attendance, Attainment and Other Outcomes of Children in Care, 2018 - 2025

There are five classifications that describe employment/education outcomes for children who left care within each calendar year. These are:

• 'Substantial Employment only'
• 'Substantial Employment and Education'
• 'Education only'
• 'Neither Employment nor Education'
• 'Employment/Education status not identified'

These classifications are described in detail in the Background Notes

Outcomes by single year of age in 2023

Children who left care were more likely to be in 'education only' compared to all children in 2023. Note that this analysis is based on individuals that were aged 18-24 years in January 2025 (see Table 5.1).

The proportion of children who left care who were in 'education only' in 2023 decreased with age from 77% of those aged 18 to 14% of those aged 24, while for all children it reduced from 65% of those aged 18 to 8% of those aged 24 (see Figure 5.1).

'Substantial employment only or substantial employment with education' was lower for children who left care than for all children for every age from 18 to 24 years. For example 57% of those who left care aged 24 were in this category compared with 75% of all children (see Figure 5.2).

The proportion who were in "neither employment nor education, or employment/education status not identified' was higher at every age for children who left care - for example 29% of those aged 24 compared with 16% of all children of the same age. It should be noted that the 'not identified' category is likely to include young people who have emigrated and are therefore not captured in any administrative records.

Outcomes by calendar year, 2019-2023

A large majority of children who left care and all children (aged 18-24 years by January 2025 for both groups) were in substantial employment and/or education for each of the years 2019 to 2023. For children who left care this proportion reduced from 94% in 2019 to 81% in 2023, while for all children it was 93% in 2019 falling to 89% in 2023 (see Table 5.2).

The proportion of young adults in ‘substantial employment only’ or ‘substantial employment with education’ was lower for children who left care compared with all children over the whole time period 2019-2023. In 2023, 33% of children who left care were in these two outcome categories combined, while the proportion was 60% among all children, see Figure 5.4 and Figure 5.5. A higher proportion of children who left care were in the 'neither employment nor education' category in 2023 at 15% compared to 4% of all children. 

Further education, higher education and school enrolments in calendar year 2023

In 2023, similar proportions of children who had left care (27%) and of all children (26%) were still enrolled at school (amongst those aged 18-24 years in January 2025), see Figure 5.6 and Table 5.3.

While the total proportion of young adults enrolled in further and higher education in 2023 was similar for children who left care (44%) compared with all children (46%), a larger proportion of children who left care attended further education courses (27%) and a lower proportion attended higher education courses (17%) compared with all children at 7% and 39% respectively.

Looking at further education in 2023 in more detail, children who left care were also more likely to be enrolled in Post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses (8%) and Youthreach courses (5%) than all children at 3% and 1% respectively (see Table 5.3). PLC courses are fulltime further education courses lasting 1-2 years, for people who have finished post-primary education. Youthreach provides opportunities for young people who left school without formal qualifications. 

Some in further education may have subsequently progressed to higher education. For instance, Figure 5.7 shows that the proportion of children who left care enrolled in further education went down from 34% in 2022 to 27% in 2023, whereas the proportion in higher education increased from 13% to 17 % over the same two years (see also Table 5.3 for educational enrolments in 2023 and Table 5.4 for educational enrolments in 2022).

For all children, the percentage in further education fell from 10% in 2022 to 7% in 2023, while the proportion in higher education increased from 32% in 2022 to 39% in 2023.

Further education, higher education and school enrolments in calendar year 2022

Looking at educational enrolments in 2022, 34% of children who left care were enrolled in further education and 13% were in higher education, whereas amongst all children in the same age group (18-24 in January 2025), the proportions were 10% in further education and 32% in higher education (see Figure 5.8 and Table 5.4).

Looking at further education enrolments in 2022 in more detail, higher proportions of children who left care were enrolled in PLC courses (13%) and Youthreach courses (6%) compared with all children (5% and 1% respectively).

Outcomes for early leavers

Under a quarter of children who left care and were also early school leavers were in 'substantial employment' (15%) or 'substantial employment and education' (9%) in 2023 compared with over half of children who left care who were not early school leavers at 16% and 36% respectively (see Figure 5.9 and Table 5.5). Amongst all children, 43% of early school leavers were in 'substantial employment' or 'substantial employment and education' in 2023 compared with 76% of all children who were not early leavers. These figures are based on those children who entered post-primary school between 2013 and 2017.

In 2023, 35% of children who left care and were also early leavers were in 'neither employment nor education' compared with 11% of children who left care who were not early leavers.  Amongst all children, 24% of early school leavers were in 'neither employment nor education' compared with 3% of all children who were not early leavers.

While the underlying numbers are small, 10% of children who left care, were identified as an early leaver. This is higher than for children who left care and were not early leavers, of whom 3% had repeated a school year.

The proportion of children who left care and had changed primary or post-primary school at least once was 40% for early leavers compared with 23% of those who completed the Leaving Certificate (see Table 5.5).

Outcomes by sex, care type, legal status, placements and school changes

The 2023 outcomes for the whole group of 2,973 children who left care (aged 18-24 years in January 2025) by sex, care type, legal status, number of placements and school changes is shown in Table 5.6. Looking at the percentage distribution of the outcome classifications by sex shows the proportion in "substantial employment and education' was eight percentage points higher for females (27%) than males (19%), whereas a higher proportion of males than females were in 'substantial employment only' at 12% versus 8%.

Children whose last placement before leaving care was foster care were more likely to be in 'substantial employment and education' at 27% compared to 12% of those in other placement types. Young people whose last placement was not foster care had higher proportions in the 'Neither employment nor education' category (26%) compared to those in foster care (10%).

Previous year's educational enrolment of those in higher education in 2023

Looking at the previous year's (2022) highest educational enrolment of those in higher education in 2023, shows that children who left care aged 18-24 were four times more likely to have been enrolled in further education in 2022 than all children of the same age group, at 12% and 3% respectively (see Table 5.7).

Economic sector and median weekly earnings in 2023

Table 5.8 shows the economic sectors of those in substantial employment in 2023 based on Revenue Pay As You Earn (PAYE) data. It shows that for children who left care aged 18 to 24, the most common areas of employment were the wholesale and retail sector (29%), accommodation and food services (also 29%) and construction (9%).

For all children aged 18-24 meanwhile, the wholesale and retail sector was also the most common area of employment at 30%, followed by accommodation and food services (23%) and financial, real estate and administrative (8%). 

Looking at the median weekly earnings of those in substantial PAYE employment shows that children who left care had median earnings of €300 per week, which was slightly lower than all children whose median weekly earnings were €330.

Note that these income figures are based on the highest-earning PAYE employment only and do not include any additional employment or self-employment earnings. It should also be noted that a majority of those who were in substantial employment in 2023 were also in education (see Table 5.2), so many may have been in part-time employment only. See Background Notes for further details of the methodology used.

Note: For official statistics on earnings please see Earnings and Labour Costs Q4 2024 (Final) Q1 2025 (Preliminary Estimates).

Proportion of mothers among women who left care and all women aged 18-24

The proportion of mothers among young women can be identified using data from the Central Records System of the Department of Social Protection. Table 5.9 shows that 12.2% of women who left care aged 18 to 24 (in January 2025) were recorded as having a child by January 2025, compared with 3.5% of all women of the same age group.