Abstract
This article compares the needs and background characteristics of children who became looked after by an English local authority between April and July in 2019 and the same three months in 2020, with the aim of identifying any impact of the Covid-19 pandemic which broke out in March 2020 and continued for some months thereafter. It scrutinises the two cohorts, comparing children's age, gender, ethnicity, entry to care with siblings and reasons for admission. Differences attributable to the pandemic were found.