DfE threatened with legal action over ban on unregulated accommodation for under-16s
Fiona Simpson
Thursday, April 29, 2021
Children’s rights campaigners have threatened the Department for Education with legal action over plans not to ban unregulated supported accommodation for 16- and 17-year-olds.
The move comes following the government’s response to its review into the use of unregulated and unregistered settings for children in care which states plans to ban such provision for under-16s.
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Children’s rights charity Article 39 was among participants of the Keep Caring To 18 campaign which called for an outright ban on the use of unregulated supported accommodation.
The charity has now written a letter to DfE threatening legal action if legislation banning the use of such provision for under-16s is not extended to cover 16- and 17-year-olds before it comes into force in September.
Carolyne Willow, director of Article 39, said: “What parent would countenance withdrawing care from children at the age of 16, as they enter and complete their crucial final year at school? This is a heartless change to the law, which is not founded on any evidence that children stop needing adult care and supervision from their 16th birthday.
“Children are being shunted into unregulated accommodation, the majority of which is run for profit, as a default option because of the national shortage of caring homes. It’s the government’s job to sort this for children, by properly resourcing local authorities and having a national strategy, but instead ministers have made the smallest change possible. If left unchecked, this change to the law gives the green light to local authorities to discriminate against 16- and 17- year-olds in their care. It’s the first time government has tried to put into law age-based placement decision-making for children in care. It defies everything we know about the needs of children and takes us back decades.”
Last year, the Court of Appeal ruled that Education Secretary Gavin Williamson had acted unlawfully by not consulting then-children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield over changes to legislation regarding children’s social care. The ruling following an unsuccessful legal challenge at the High Court.
DfE has been contacted for comment.