Cambridgeshire demographics
Cambridgeshire County Council is a large local authority in the East of England with a population of 699,573 (2023), 354,361 females and 345,212 males. According to the 2021 census, most people in Cambridgeshire are white (86.5%) The remaining 13.5% are from non-white minority groups. In 2023 people aged 16 to 64, who are of working age, make up 63% of the population.
These figures are taken from Cambridgeshire insights population reports
Special Guardianship Order (SGO)
Cambridgeshire County Council has a large kinship population. We currently provide varying types of support to over 280 families. During the year 2023-2024 we supported 38 children becoming subject to an SGO as follows:
- 27 out of 38 children were made subject to special guardianship in the care of their grandparents
- six out of 38 children were cared for by other family members
- four out of 38 children were carers for wider family members or family friends
- one child was cared for by a previous foster carer
When considering the ages of children subject to special guardianship:
- one child was under the age of one
- 15 children were aged between one and four years old
- 14 children were aged between four and nine
- seven children were aged between 10-15
- one child was over the age of 16
Kinship foster care
We currently support 19 kinship foster carers approved under Regulation 27, who are caring for 25 children. Additionally, there are 20 kinship foster carers approved under Regulation 24, who are caring for 23 children.
Private foster carers
We currently support 10 children under private fostering arrangements. This includes four children under the Homes for Ukraine programme, four children from language schools, and two children in mainstream care.
Informal kinship population
We also support a large informal kinship population in Cambridgeshire who have made private decisions in line with their parental authority for close family members to provide care to a child. We do not collect statistical information on this population in the same way as this is not a legal requirement. However, we provide them with our support and services at their request.
