Watchdog tells councils not to use B&Bs for young homeless people

Following a judgment in a case involving Lancashire County Council, the watchdog said that, even in emergency cases, placing homeless young people in bed and breakfast accommodation represents a breach of statutory guidance.

The warning comes after an LGO investigation into a case where Lancashire's children’s services placed a vulnerable teenager with behavioural problems in B&B accommodation.

The decision to place him in a B&B was taken after he was bailed from police custody, with the court directing that he should "live and sleep as directed by the council".

As no family members were willing or able to take him in, the council’s children’s services department placed him in public B&B accommodation where he stayed for five days, without a new assessment of his needs being carried out.

The LGO said that in providing him with accommodation, the local authority was treating him as a "looked after child", but had not fulfilled the specific duties associated with this.

The LGO, Jane Martin, said statutory guidance exists to ensure vulnerable young people are not left to cope unsupported, alone and at risk of exploitation.

“We shared our findings on councils’ inappropriate use of B&B accommodation to house families and children in a national report in 2013, and it is troubling that I am still reporting on individual cases like this.

“I am particularly concerned that the council is struggling to meet its obligation to have sufficient appropriate accommodation, and it therefore unable to confirm this situation would not arise again.

“The publication of this report gives local councillors the opportunity to ask questions of their authority to establish whether it can accommodate vulnerable homeless young people like the teenager involved here”.

The LGO has called on Lancashire County Council to ensure it does not place homeless 16- and 17-year-olds in B&B accommodation; make clear in its policy for homeless 16- and 17-year-olds that B&B accommodation is unsuitable; and carry out a review of whether is it meeting its duty of proving sufficient accommodation for looked-after children.

A Lancashire County Council spokesman said: "When young people are in danger of becoming homeless, we do all we can to ensure they are kept safe, including arranging temporary accommodation to keep them off the streets.

"Following on from the recent complaint, the ombudsman has recommended that we review some of our processes.

"We have put together an action plan and are working with our partners to make the improvements they have suggested."

The findings in the case come on the back of guidance published earlier this year that stated B&Bs are not suitable for care leavers.