The impact of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions on missing person reports

Figures & data

Table 1. Number of missing children and adults reports in 2019 (23rd March–20th May) compared with 2020 (23rd March–20th May) and percentage change for each UK force.

Force	Children			Adults
	2019	2020	% Change	2019	2020	% Change
A	174	185	6.32	256	125	−51.17
B	326	269	−17.48	205	165	−19.51
C	5307	3602	−32.13	2500	1766	−29.36
D	249	131	−47.39	110	46	−58.19
E	855	466	−45.50	785	478	−39.11
F	443	155	−65.01	416	145	−65.14
Total	7354	4808	−34.62	4272	2725	−36.21

Note: It was only possible to retrieve 80% of reported cases to Force D in both 2019 and 2020.

Table 2. Cross-tabulation table for 2 × 2 χ², Odds Ratios (OR) with Confidence Intervals (CIs) measuring associations between characteristics of missing children reports in 23rd March–20th May 2019 compared with the same period in 2020 (N = 12162).

Characteristics (No. of forces)		2019		2020		χ²	p-value	ϕ	OR	CI
		n	%	n	%
Sex (6)	Male Female Transgender	3685 3661 5	50.1 49.8 0.1	2543 2245 16	52.9 46.7 0.3	9.01 11.11 11.83	.003 .001 .001	.03 −.03 .03	1.12 0.88 4.91	1.04–1.20 0.82–0.95 1.80–13.41
Risk (6)	Low Medium High	605 5936 337	8.8 86.3 4.9	574 3763 205	12.6 82.8 4.5	43.55 25.52 0.90	<.001 <.001 .35	.06 −.05 −.01	1.50 0.77 0.92	1.33–1.69 0.69–0.85 0.77–1.10
Ethnic background^a (6)	Not White British White British	3353 3642	47.9 52.1	2310 2280	50.1 49.7	6.35 6.35	.01 .01	.02 −.02	1.10 0.91	1.02–1.19 0.84–0.98
Missing before^a (4)		1419	80.7	888	86.4	14.62	<.001	.07	1.52	1.22–1.88
Missing from (4)	Children’s residential care Home/residence Hospital Street	532 1024 31 20	29.6 57.0 1.7 1.1	400 609 7 2	37.2 56.7 0.7 0.2	17.83 0.03 5.93 7.60	<.001 .88 .02 .006	.08 −.003 −.05 −.05	1.41 1.00 0.37 0.17	1.20–1.66 0.85–1.15 0.16–0.85 0.04–0.71
Found by^a (4)	Family/friend/acquaintance Police Care home staff	267 623 111	14.8 34.6 11.8	101 412 128	9.4 38.4 21.1	17.85 4.02 24.43	<.001 .05 <.001	−.08 .04 .13	0.60 1.17 2.00	0.47–0.76 1.00–1.37 1.51–2.64
Found at^a (3)	Home address	250	30.9	93	24.3	5.50	.02	−.07	0.72	0.54–0.95
Suffered harm whilst missing (2)		10	1.6	6	1.8	0.03	1.00	.01	1.09	0.39–3.03
Associated risk factors (2)	Modern day slavery exploitation, trafficking^a School/college problems Gang-related Violent, racial, transphobic, or domestic abuse^a Risk of suicide/self-harm Mental health issues including depression/anxiety^a Alcohol/drug dependency^a Relationship problems Inc. family conflict^a Employment problems Financial problems Unaccompanied juvenile	24 1445 11 437 690 1060 1222 1476 415 434 82	3.9 25.1 1.8 7.6 12.0 18.4 21.3 25.7 7.2 7.5 13.3	17 761 12 373 508 797 1068 913 292 341 47	5.0 20.3 3.5 9.9 13.5 21.2 28.4 24.3 7.8 9.1 13.8	0.66 30.30 2.85 15.80 4.78 11.17 63.97 2.26 1.02 7.08 .05	.41 <.001 .12 <.001 .03 .001 <.001 .13 .32 .09 .84	.03 −.06 .06 .04 .02 .03 .08 −.02 .01 .03 .02	1.30 0.76 2.02 1.34 1.15 1.19 1.47 0.93 1.08 1.22 1.05	0.69–2.46 0.69–0.84 0.88–4.62 1.16–1.55 1.01–1.30 1.08–1.32 1.34–1.62 0.85–1.02 0.93–1.27 1.05–1.42 0.71–1.54
Distance from missing to found (in miles) (2)	0–5 miles 6–10 miles 11–20 miles 21–40 miles 41–80 miles Over 80 miles	419 67 48 34 6 10	71.7 11.5 8.2 5.8 1.0 1.7	232 27 19 13 18 7	73.4 8.5 6.0 4.1 5.7 2.2	0.29 1.88 1.45 1.21 17.22 0.28	.64 .21 .29 .35 <.001 .61	.02 −.05 −.04 −.04 .14 .02	1.09 0.72 0.71 0.69 5.82 1.30	0.80–1.48 0.45–1.15 0.41–1.24 0.36–1.34 2.29–14.81 0.49–3.45

^a Variable was ‘collapsed’ into broader categories due to differing recording systems.

Table 3. Means and standard deviations for age, time missing, and number of times previously missing across missing children reports in 23rd March–20th May 2019 compared with the same period in 2020 (N = 12,162).

Characteristics (no. of forces)	2019		2020		p-value	d
	n	M (SD)	n	M (SD)
Age (in years) (6)	7352	15.40 (2.03)	4808	15.53 (1.94)	<.001	−.07
Time missing (in hours) (6)	6432	57.65 (320.02)	4205	46.03 (106.88)	<.001	.04
Number of times previously missing (2)	617	13.99 (18.93)	340	12.10 (14.3)	.08	.11

Table 4. Cross-tabulation table for 2 × 2 χ², Odds Ratios (OR) with Confidence Intervals (CIs) measuring associations between characteristics of missing adult reports in 23rd March–20th May 2019 compared with the same period in 2020 (N = 6997).

Characteristics (No. of forces)		2019		2020		χ²	p-value	ϕ	OR	CI
		n	%	n	%
Sex (6) Risk (6)	Male Female Transgender Low Medium High	2584 1659 25 771 2599 500	60.5 38.9 0.6 19.4 67.2 12.9 37.0 63.0 53.2 5.2 62.6 20.7 2.6 2.3	1619 1080 25 491 1570 409	59.4 39.6 0.9 19.4 63.5 16.6	0.85 0.42 2.58 0.00 8.78 16.20	.37 .53 .11 1.00 .003 <.001	−.01 .01 02 .00 −.04 .05	0.96 1.03 1.57 1.00 0.85 1.34	0.87–1.05 0.94–1.14 0.90–2.74 0.88–1.13 0.77–0.95 1.16–1.54
Ethnic background^a (6)	Not White British White British	1512 2576		1030 1569	39.6 60.4	4.72 4.72	.03 .03	.03 −.03	1.12 0.89	1.01–1.24 0.81–0.99
Missing before^a (4)		830		429	50.6	1.44	.23	−.02	0.90	0.76–1.07
Missing from^a (4)	Children’s residential care home Home/residence Hospital Mental Health Residential care (elderly)	86 1039 344 43 32		14 661 170 17 19	1.5 72.4 18.6 1.9 2.4	20.95 25.47 1.61 1.37 0.04	<.001 <.001 .22 .28 .88	−.09 .10 −.03 −.02 .00	0.29 1.57 0.88 0.71 1.06	0.16–0.51 1.32–1.87 0.71–1.08 0.41–1.26 0.60–1.88
Found by^a (4)	Family/friend/acquaintance Police Care home staff	120 499 50	11.4 47.3 10.8	66 377 25	9.8 55.8 8.6	1.12 11.83 0.98	.30 .001 .38	−.03 .08 −.04	0.84 1.41 0.78	0.61–1.16 1.16–1.71 0.47–1.28
Found at^a (3)	Home address	250	30.9	93	24.3	5.50	.02	−.07	0.72	0.54–0.95
Suffered harm whilst missing (2)		52	7.7	36	13.3	7.12	.009	.09	1.83	1.17–2.88
Associated factors (2)	Modern day slavery exploitation, trafficking^a Gang-related Violent, racial, transphobic, or domestic abuse^a Risk of suicide/self-harm Mental health issues including depression/anxiety^a Alcohol/drug dependency^a Relationship problems inc. family conflict^a Employment problems Financial problems	2 3 259 542 1222 957 631 415 431	0.3 0.4 8.9 18.6 41.9 32.8 21.6 14.2 14.8	1 0 234 468 893 735 485 301 335	0.4 0 12.2 24.5 46.7 38.5 25.4 15.8 17.5	14.24 24.31 10.91 16.15 9.09 2.11 6.54	1.00^b .56^b <.001 <.001 .001 <.001 .003 .15 .01	.01 −.04 .05 .07 .05 .06 .04 .02 .04	1.25 1.00 1.43 1.42 1.22 1.28 1.23 1.13 1.23	0.11–13.79 0.99–1.00 1.19–1.73 1.24–1.63 1.08–1.37 1.13–1.44 1.08–1.41 0.96–1.32 1.05–1.43
Distance from missing to found (in miles) (2)	0–5 6–10 11–20 21–40 41–80 Over 80 Out of the UK	398 74 43 33 27 27 5	61.8 11.5 6.7 5.1 4.2 4.2 0.8	165 27 22 13 10 10 2	64.5 10.5 8.6 5.1 3.9 3.9 0.8	0.55 0.16 1.00 0 0.04 0.04	.49 .73 .32 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00^b	.03 −.01 .03 0 −.01 −.01 0	1.12 0.91 1.31 0.99 0.93 0.93 1.01	0.83–1.52 0.57–1.45 0.77–2.25 0.51–1.91 0.44–1.95 0.44–1.95 0.19–5.22

^a Variable was ‘collapsed’ into broader categories due to differing recording systems.

^b Fisher’s Exact Test was used as cells less than 5.

Table 5. Means and standard deviations for age, time missing, and number of times previously missing across missing adults reports in 23rd March–20th May 2019 compared with the same period in 2020 (N = 6997).

Characteristics (no. of forces)	2019		2020		p-value	d
	n	M (SD)	n	M (SD)
Age (in years) (6)	4271	32.26 (17.22)	2725	31.74 (17.43)	.23	.03
Time missing (in hours) (6)	3050	70.53 (291.01)	1978	50.72 (198.61)	.01	.08
Number of times previously missing (2)	672	6.68 (10.43)	270	3.86 (7.01)	<.001	.32