Council protocols are failing homeless teens, lawyers reveal

Since the Southwark judgment ruling in 2009, local authorities have been required to provide all homeless 16- and 17-year-olds with care services under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989.

But shocking stories of homeless young people forced to live in tents and caves due to a lack of support continue to emerge in reports from agencies including the children’s rights director for England and the local government ombudsman.

Statutory guidance states that all councils must have joint protocols between housing and children’s services to outline procedures to assess and provide support to these vulnerable teenagers.

But a series of freedom of information requests to councils in England conducted by the Law Centres Network and city law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has revealed that many protocols are falling short of the mark.

An analysis of the protocols, seen exclusively by CYP Now, will be distributed to councils this week.

In total, 138 protocols were received from councils. Lawyers examined whether the documents complied with the law in light of the Southwark judgment.

According to statutory guidance, children’s services should be the lead agency when assessing and meeting the needs of homeless 16- and 17-year-olds, but the research found “a significant number” of joint protocols “actively direct young people away from social services to the housing department”.

Overall, 27 per cent of protocols failed to make it clear that social services should be the lead department for homeless young people at the council, rising to 35 per cent among London councils.

A good protocol should set out Section 20 of the Children Act accurately and include a description of how the law should be applied in practice to support young people presenting as homeless.

But the Law Centres Network found that 38 per cent of the protocols did not set out Section 20 correctly, rising to 49 per cent in London. Moreover, 61 per cent did not correctly describe how the law should be applied, increasing to 64 per cent in London.

Suitable accommodation
The law makes clear that bed and breakfast accommodation must not be used to accommodate homeless 16- and 17-year-olds, but that they should be given suitable emergency accommodation, and ordinarily be treated as a looked-after child while their needs are assessed.

The research found that 52 per cent of councils made no reference to the fact that guidance prohibits the use of B&B accommodation in their joint protocols, rising to 63 per cent in London. Meanwhile, seven per cent of local authorities stated that they used B&B accommodation to accommodate homeless 16- and 17-year-olds as a matter of course, increasing to 10 per cent in London.

Holly Padfield-Paine, young people’s programme development consultant at the Law Centres Network, is urging councils to review their protocols immediately to make sure they are meeting their duties in relation to vulnerable, homeless young people.

“In the current economic climate, local authorities are facing increased pressures on their limited resources,” she says. “However, despite this, they must ensure that vulnerable homeless 16- and 17-year-olds are protected. It is crucial, therefore, that their protocols are ‘fit for practice’ and ensure that homeless 16- and 17-year-olds are correctly assessed and accommodated.”

Padfield-Paine argues  that making correct and lawful decisions the first time can often, in both the short and long-term, save money for the local authority.

“We want all local authorities to operate under lawful protocols,” she adds. “This can go some way to ensuring that vulnerable homeless 16- and 17-year-olds are not left in situations that put them in danger.”