A fifth of children in care self-harmed during pandemic, research finds

Young people in care were more than twice as likely to have mental ill-health than the wider population. Photograph: Simon Dack Archive/Alamy

One in five children in care in England were self-harming and likely to have mental ill health during the Covid-19 pandemic, research published on Wednesday reveals.

The study by the University of Bristol is the first to analyse the mental health of children and young people in local authority care during the pandemic. At any given time in England, there are about 80,000 children and young people in care.