Temporary Accommodation: Children

Legislation and statutory guidance is clear that local authorities should, wherever possible, place homeless households within their own area. However, in some areas where there is a limited supply of suitable accommodation, it is sometimes necessary to place households in temporary accommodation outside the local area. This should be as near as possible to the original placing local authority.

The Department publishes data on out-of-area placements, setting out which areas have received placements, the composition of households placed out of area and the type of accommodation they are placed into. You can find this data in the detailed local authority table (tables TA9 onwards): here. The published data show the local authority where the household is owed a duty and the region where a local authority places a household.

The Child Poverty Strategy and our National Plan to End Homelessness set out our commitments to eradicate unsuitable or poor-quality accommodation and ensure children in temporary accommodation do not experience gaps in health care provision or disruption to their education.

As part of this, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act introduces a new temporary accommodation notification duty, to inform schools, health visiting services and GP practices when a child is placed in temporary accommodation. This notification will strengthen information sharing so that educational institutions and health providers are aware where children may require additional or different support and can seek to improve their outcomes. This will come into force on 1 September.

We have also set out our long-term ambition to cut school days lost for children in temporary accommodation, backed by data so that targeted support can be provided more effectively.