Child and maternal health profiles: October 2026 update
Annual update of indicators related to children in care and with additional needs, hospital admissions and birth.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
The child and maternal health profiles provide an overview of child and maternal health and wellbeing. They are intended for use by local government and health service professionals to inform planning for health and associated services for local populations.
Indicators for the following topics have been updated in this release:
-
under-16 and under-18 conceptions, including those leading to abortion
-
general fertility rate and under-18 birth rate
-
smoking in pregnancy
-
low birthweight
-
multiple births
-
free school meals eligibility
-
pupils with special educational needs and with social, emotional and mental health needs
-
hospital admissions for dental caries and for substance misuse
-
average Attainment 8 score for children in care
-
breastfeeding at 6 to 8 weeks using data from the community services data set (CSDS)
-
child development at 2 to 2 and a half years using data from CSDS
-
health visiting delivery using data from CSDS
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published commentaries for the following indicators:
-
Conceptions in England and Wales: 2023 (under-18 conceptions)
-
Births in England and Wales: 2025 (general fertility rate, under-18 birth rate, low birthweight and multiple births)
The Department for Education has published commentaries for the following indicators:
-
Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2026 (free school meals eligibility)
-
Special educational needs in England: January 2026 (pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs)
-
Outcomes for children in need, including children looked after by local authorities, in England: 2024 to 2025 (average Attainment 8 score for children in care)
These commentaries should be consulted for further information about the interpretation of this data.
The release publishes statistics in development for the healthy child programme based on data from CSDS for the first time. A guide to interpretation of healthy child programme indicators from CSDS data accompanies the release.