Section 20 of the Children Act 1989 establishes that local authority children’s services have a duty to provide accommodation for children under the age of 18 who are unable to live with their families. In parallel, local authority housing services also have a duty to homeless 16- and 17-year-olds under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996, who are deemed to be in “priority need” of housing. However, in 2009, the House of Lords considered the law in the case of G v Southwark Borough Council (referred to as the Southwark judgment) and found that the Children Act duty should take precedence over the Housing Act, clearly affirming the responsibility of Children’s Social Care to assess children who present themselves as being homeless or at risk of homelessness.
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