Hospitals: Discharges
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking with the NHS to end the practice of discharging mothers with newborn babies into B&Bs or other unsuitable accommodation.
Answered by Karin Smyth
The Government is working closely with the National Health Service to end the practice of mothers with newborns being discharged to bed and breakfasts or other forms of unsuitable shared housing.
Our new Child Poverty Strategy was published 5 December 2025 and will end the unlawful placement of families in bed and breakfasts beyond the six-week limit. To support this, the Government is investing £8 million in Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots in 20 local authorities that have the highest use of bed and breakfasts for homeless families and is continuing the programme for the next three years.
We will work with local authorities, supported by robust NHS pathways, to make sure safe and appropriate alternatives are available and used. This includes identifying issues as early as possible to help ensure that the housing a new mother and their newborn will be discharged to meets their needs.
We are also working across the Government to support children in temporary accommodation. This includes introducing a clinical code for children in temporary accommodation, ensuring these families are proactively contacted by health services and ending the practice of discharging newborn babies into a bed and breakfast or other unsuitable shared accommodation.
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