Hundreds of ‘hidden’ children living in unregulated settings, charity warns

Some 1,498 children aged 16 and 17 are living in settings including hostels and supported accommodation with minimal adult supervision when they should be in the care of the local authority, data compiled from Freedom of Information (FOI) requests submitted by the charity to local councils shows. 

On 31 March last year, data from 134 local authorities that responded to the request shows that 585 non-looked after children were housed in unregulated accommodation.

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“Across all 343 councils in England this would be 1,498,” the charity states.

These children are not included in Department for Education figures which state that 6,180 looked-after children were living in such settings on 31 March 2019.

Just for Kids Law warns that housing teenagers in unregulated settings leaves them exposed to exploitation or abuse.

The Not in Care, Not Counted report highlights a legal loophole, which stems from the overlap of the Housing Act 1996 and Children’s Act 1989 allowing local authorities to place vulnerable children in such settings.

It states: “As homeless children, they should be taken into care by the local authority but a legal loophole allows councils to give them a bare minimum of support by housing them under the Housing Act 1996 and placing them in unregulated accommodation”.

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Just for Kids Law says that older teenagers rely on a “postcode lottery” to determine which act they are housed under.

The report adds: “This life changing decision can depend which door of a local authority’s services the child walks through, or which staff member they happen to speak to on that particular day”.

“Local authorities are allowed to house a child aged 16 or 17 without making them a looked-after child if this is what the young person decides. The consequences of this decision are supposed to be fully explained to them but very often at we find this is not the case. Instead, local authorities are pushing children to take the Housing Act/Section 17 option as this is significantly cheaper than having to provide the additional support which children in care receive and then later as a care leaver,” it adds.

The figures come following the closure of a government consultation into banning the use of unregulated supported accommodation for under-16s, introducing national minimum standards for such settings and increasing monitoring of them.

Just for Kids Law is calling for the law to be changed so that no child under 18 can be placed in unregulated accommodation and denied their right to be taken into care.

Enver Solomon, chief executive at Just for Kids Law, said: “These forgotten children are some of the most vulnerable in our society yet they are being left without the support they desperately need, neglected by the state. It should never be acceptable for a child who has faced great adversity to be without a caring home. The government needs to urgently address the legal loophole that is allowing this to happen and ensure no child who is facing homelessness has to cope alone with minimal support.”