New care regulations could increase homelessness for teenagers
Dr Tom Kerridge
Monday, October 23, 2023
Stories of children falling through the regulatory gaps and facing terrible conditions in unregulated, profit-first accommodation that is effectively paid for by the taxpayer have been a national scandal for some time.
Now, after concluding that regulation could be just as effective as sustained investment, the government is beginning to act.
In quite wide-ranging reforms across the previously unregulated supported accommodation sector and including the social housing sector, ministers targeted those providing housing and support for 16 and 17-year-olds.
As a result, from the end of this month, and in line with similar settings looking after children in care, providers working with this group must be registered with Ofsted.
This, in theory, makes sense. There’s no doubt that a lack of regulation had contributed to the rise of unscrupulous, profiteering providers and left young people more likely to be exposed to harm and at risk of exploitation.
Research from Centrepoint has found that, for many providers it is not. The result being some 16- and 17-year-olds, including care leavers and looked-after children, could be at risk of losing bed spaces in accommodation which would normally put a roof over their heads.
And with the registration deadline fast approaching this weekend, 28 October, we’re worried the new measures could even mean more young people are at risk of homelessness.
The new regulation has, thankfully, banned unregulated provision, meaning young people will always be housed in supported accommodation, with providers who have a duty of care and are held to account against certain regulations. This should weed out the scandalous providers.
However the new regime, which brings in Ofsted to inspect providers who support 16-to 17-year-old care leavers and looked-after children, has set providers tasks they have neither the administrative capacity or financial resources to complete.
The government, in consultation with the sector, did appear to acknowledge that meeting Ofsted would require further investment on their part. In April, money was made available to local authorities to support registration. This money was not ring-fenced, however, and over three quarters of the providers we spoke to had not received any financial support ahead of this month’s deadline. Financial strains appear to be pushing these providers to make the difficult decision to not register, potentially stopping them from continuing to support these vulnerable young people. Almost nine in ten providers said funding levels aren’t enough to keep up with the Ofsted registration process – and over half (53 per cent) said current funding levels are nowhere near enough.
Instead, only a few providers Centrepoint spoke to (six per cent) had received funding from local government and yet over a third (38 per cent) of providers are feeling the pressure from councils to register with Ofsted.
The findings are worrisome but not surprising, as we have said all along that burdensome and costly regulations will likely push smaller providers out of business, and ultimately put more 16– and 17-year-olds in danger. A third of providers we spoke to are expecting a significant fall in the number of bed spaces that 16-and 17-year-olds will be offered, and two in five are expecting the number of bed spaces to decrease slightly. This means that over three quarters of all providers (78 per cent) are expecting the amount of support, allocated to 16-and 17-year-old care leavers and looked-after children, to be negatively affected by the regulations.
The sector has been crying out for better regulation, but leaving providers in hot water with little to no support is simply not the way to reform the system.
The government needs to act now to stop these reduced bed spaces leading to an increase of homelessness amongst 16-and 17-year-olds.
Dr. Tom Kerridge is policy and research manager at Centrepoint.
