This chapter provides information and best practice when providing families with no recourse to public funds with accommodation under section 17 of the Children Act 1989.
7.1 General considerations
The provision of accommodation to meet a child’s needs must be consistent with the local authority’s duty to safeguard and promote the child’s welfare under section 17 of the Children Act 1989 and section 11 of the Children Act 2004. For more information about these duties, see section 1.2.
Support provided under section 17 is often required for lengthy periods, with families supported on average for 1.5 years. Therefore, a child’s welfare is likely to be negatively impacted if the accommodation provided to the family whilst they are receiving section 17 support is unsuitable or does not adequately meet the child’s needs.
Housing costs made up 80% of the total spend on accommodation and financial support of the 78 local authorities providing data through NRPF Connect in March 2024. Therefore, it will be necessary to have a strategy in place to source and manage temporary accommodation. For example, children’s social care within a unitary authority may source accommodation for a section 17 placement through its housing department.
Although any type of accommodation can be provided to a family, where possible, families should be placed in secure, long-term, self-contained accommodation near to their support networks in order to promote a child’s welfare. When, due to limited housing availability, a local authority is not able to provide all of this, the use of other options, such as a hotels or out-of-area placements, will need to be weighed up against the best interests of the child and appropriate steps taken or safeguards put in place in order to manage any risks or practical challenges.
For information about accommodating additional members of a family, such as adult children living in the household, see section 8.4.
7.2 Self-contained privately rented accommodation
Providing a family with self-contained accommodation, where they can remain for the full period that they are supported for under section 17 of the Children Act will usually be the best option to ensure that a child’s needs are met. Such accommodation will usually only be available in the private rented sector.
The Home Office right to rent scheme does not prevent local authorities in England from using accommodation in the private rented sector. Accommodation provided to families supported under section 17 is exempt from the right to rent scheme.
The Landlord’s Guide to Right to Rent Checks (Home Office, February 2024) states:
Accommodation arranged by local authorities
The following residential tenancy agreements are exempt from the scheme, where they are arranged by a local authority which is acting in response to:
- a statutory duty owed to an individual
- a relevant power with the intention of providing accommodation to a person who is homeless, or who is threatened with homelessness
This includes instances where the person is to be placed into a privately rented property by the local authority.
In such circumstances, landlords should ask for written confirmation from the local authority that the authority is acting in response to a statutory duty and keep this on file.
For more information about the right to rent scheme, see the NRPF Network website.
7.3 Local authority temporary accommodation
Where a local authority has units of temporary accommodation within its housing stock, it may be cost-effective to utilise these in order to provide families supported under section 17 of the Children Act with a long-term self-contained placement.
Although social housing and homelessness assistance provided by a local authority under parts VI and VII of the Housing Act 1996 is classed as a ‘public fund’ for immigration purposes, local authority temporary accommodation can be used to accommodate families supported under section 17.
The Public Funds Caseworker Guidance (Home Office, October 2023) confirms that families with no recourse to public funds that are being supported under section 17 can be granted a non-secure tenancy, or licence of housing accommodation by a local housing authority.
7.4 Refuges and housing managed by the voluntary sector
When a parent has experienced domestic abuse, it may be appropriate to place the family in refuge accommodation so that they can access specialist support. A local authority can cover the costs of a refuge placement while a family is supported under section 17 of the Children Act.
Temporary accommodation may be procured through establishing partnerships with local voluntary sector organisations that specialise in providing housing to refugees and other migrants. Such accommodation may more suitably meet a family’s needs than alternative options if it comes with additional benefits, such as access to immigration advice or specialist advocacy services. In some cases, paying a higher rate for specialist accommodation could reduce costs in the longer-term if a family’s immigration matter is resolved quicker than it otherwise would be. The No Accommodation Network publishes a list of its member organisations that provide accommodation to refugees and other migrants across the UK.
7.5 B&B and hotel accommodation
Families placed in bed and breakfast (B&B) or hotel accommodation will not have access to full cooking facilities and may be required to live together in one room. Where possible, such accommodation should only be used on an emergency basis for a short time. Living in a hotel placement for prolonged periods is likely to have an adverse impact on a child and the high expense of using hotel placements.
In R (C, T, M & U) v LB Southwark [2014] EWHC 3983 (Admin), the judge noted that accommodating a mother and three young children in single room B&B accommodation for longer than a few weeks ‘was inappropriate and bound to have some adverse impact on them’. However, due to the particular facts of the case, the local authority was found not to have acted unlawfully by accommodating the family in a B&B for eight months. In drawing that conclusion, it was relevant that the accommodation was in the family’s preferred area, facilitated family life, and enabled the children to continue to attend their existing school and maintain social networks. It was also relevant that there was a chronic shortage of suitable rental accommodation available and that offers of alternative accommodation were made to the mother but were not considered by her to be ideal.
7.6 Out-of-area placements
When a family supported under section 17 of the Children Act is placed in out-of-area accommodation, the placing authority will be responsible for funding the family’s accommodation and providing adequate financial support whilst the child remains in need. The receiving authority will be responsible for meeting any additional needs or safeguarding concerns.
It will be necessary to consider how a child’s needs will be met when offering accommodation out of area, and how risks and practical challenges can be effectively managed from a distance.
7.6.1 Accommodation offers
When offering a family out of area accommodation whilst they are supported under section 17, the local authority must ensure that the needs of the child are clearly identified, properly considered and documented within a needs assessment or assessment review.
The impact of an out-of-area placement on a child will need to be balanced against the limited resources available to the local authority to deliver support to the family. Factors that the local authority may need to consider include:
Frequent moves or accommodation placements that are far away from established support networks or services may have a negative impact on a child’s development, as well as their parent’s well-being or mental health.
Placing families in low-cost accommodation far away from their established support networks could result in more significant or time-intensive interventions being required to ensure that the relocation is sustainable and does not have a detrimental impact on the child.
Whether a service or support that is being provided to a child to meet any additional needs can be duplicated in another local authority area.
Some guidance about how to approach an assessment is set out by the Court of Appeal in R (C, T, M and U) v London Borough of Southwark [2016]:
..the overarching obligation imposed on local authorities in England (and their specified partner agencies) by section 11 CA 2004 is to “make arrangements for ensuring that – (a) their functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children; and (b) any services provided by another person pursuant to arrangements made by the person or body in the discharge of their functions are provided having regard to that need.” That overarching obligation casts the evidential net rather wide so that a decision based on an assessment undertaken for the purposes of section 17 CA 1989 should identify how the local authority has had regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children both individually (i.e. the subject children as regards the claim) and collectively: see, for example Nzolameso v Westminster City Council [2015] UKSC 22, [2015] PTSR 549 at [24] to [27] per Baroness Hale of Richmond DPSC.
In Nzolameso v City of Westminster [2015] UKSC 22, the Supreme Court considered a family’s refusal to take up an offer of accommodation in Milton Keynes made under part VII of the Housing Act 1996. The Supreme Court found that (at paragraph 27), when determining suitability of accommodation, the local authority must have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of the children in the household and identify and have regard to the principal needs of the children, both individually and collectively:
The question of whether the accommodation offered is “suitable” for the applicant and each member of her household clearly requires the local authority to have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of any children in her household. Its suitability to meet their needs is a key component in its suitability generally. In my view, it is not enough for the decision-maker simply to ask whether any of the children are approaching GCSE or other externally assessed examinations. Disruption to their education and other support networks may be actively harmful to their social and educational development, but the authority also have to have regard to the need to promote, as well as to safeguard, their welfare. The decision maker should identify the principal needs of the children, both individually and collectively, and have regard to the need to safeguard and promote them when making the decision.
The Supreme Court’s findings with regards to assessing the suitability of out of area accommodation placements have been incorporated into the Homelessness Code of Guidance (MHCLG, June 2024). Therefore, having regard to chapter 17 of the Code of Guidance when determining the suitability of out of area placements will help ensure that Nzolameso v City of Westminster and section 11 of the Children Act 2004 are correctly applied when families are supported under section 17 of the Children Act 1989.
7.6.2 Managing risks
The placing authority will be responsible for funding the family’s accommodation, providing adequate financial support and maintaining any arrangements with accommodation providers or other organisations that have been commissioned to support the family. It may be necessary to establish a local procedure that sets out what action will be taken to ensure that family members continue to receive the support they need and to identify any potential safeguarding risks that may arise following the placement.
Local authorities placing families out of area will need to ensure that children’s social care in the receiving authority is notified, relevant information about the family is shared, and that all practitioners involved with the family are clear about their roles.
Children’s social care will need to notify the receiving authority that they have placed a child in need in its area. The receiving authority will be responsible for undertaking any additional social work actions identified in the child in need or safeguarding plan (as applicable), and for addressing any such issues that arise during the time of the placement. Depending on the family’s circumstances, the receiving authority may decide that the family may benefit from support, such as early help, to ensure that the family link into relevant local services.
In the serious case review, ‘Child G‘ (Wolverhampton Safeguarding Children Board, January 2018), one of the learning points made was that it is good practice for a placing authority to share the child’s needs assessment with the receiving authority. The board reviewed the death of Child G, whose family had no recourse to public funds. The family was supported under section 17 of the Children Act by a London borough and placed in accommodation in Wolverhampton. The review also noted that practitioners have a shared ‘explain and ask’ role to understand the responsibilities of specialist staff. In this case, practitioners had low awareness of the placing authority NRPF social worker’s role. (Serious case reviews are now referred to as ‘local child safeguarding practice reviews’.)
Notifications made through social care systems may not reach no recourse to public funds teams that are not based within children’s social care. Therefore, it would be good practice to implement a process to ensure that such alerts are flagged with any dedicated workers or team. Where both authorities are using NRPF Connect, the receiving authority will be able to use the system to find out which authority is financially supporting a family that is placed in its area.
The placing authority will need to establish processes to ensure that:
- Families can be assisted to access relevant services, including education, health, cultural or religious organisations, and any specialist support in the new area, including migrant support organisations
- Contact with the family can be maintained
- Regular reviews are undertaken (jointly with the receiving authority if necessary)
- Any changes to the family’s circumstances can be identified and quickly responded to
- The family are supported to resolve their immigration matter
- Any additional needs that the child has are properly met
- Responsibility for relevant actions and the roles of practitioners are clarified between the local authority, accommodation providers, receiving authority (if involved) and any other services commissioned to assist the family
Some local authorities have commissioned independent social workers to carry out reviews and welfare checks when they have placed significant numbers of families in another region.
The serious case review, ‘Ellie’ (pdf) (Medway Safeguarding Children Board, January 2018) was carried out following the unexplained death of a mother and her child, who was two years and seven months’ old. The review provides some important learning with regards to the use of out of area placements and commissioning arrangements with accommodation providers.
Ellie and her mother were supported under section 17 of the Children Act by Croydon Council. They were initially placed in a B&B, then were moved to a property in Wolverhampton. Two months after their initial presentation, they were placed in accommodation in Gillingham, Kent. The property provider undertook visits, which focused on the use of the property rather than the family’s welfare. No action was taken to help the family to link in with local services. When Ellie and her mother were found dead in the flat, the flat contained no food.
The findings and learning from the review provide some insight into the impact of out of area placements on a family and how lack of contact, either with the placing local authority or accommodation provider, can result in the failure to identify and address a family’s welfare needs.
Key points of learning stated in the review include:
4.2.1 The ordinary ‘safety-net’ represented by relatives, friends, neighbours, nursery school etc may be entirely absent for a family moved around the country and seeking to avoid attention for fear of removal.
4.2.3 It is clear though that lawful and efficient responses are not always enough to compensate for the very particular vulnerabilities of the extremely marginalised group represented by those who have NRPF.
The review also highlighted that multiple moves within a short timeframe would have undermined any potential for continuity of primary health care (paragraph 2.3.21).
It also found that commissioning arrangements of the family’s accommodation required a need for greater specificity and a shared understanding of what was required, stating:
5.1.3 It would have been helpful if the contract for provision of accommodation had also included a specified induction to the local sources of support and a quantified frequency/ purpose of contact. The most relevant missed opportunity though for linking the family into local sources of support was at the point of the mother registering with the GP Practice. (In this instance, there was no systematic communication pathway from GP Practices to notify the Health Visiting or School Nursing Service about the registration of an out of area child).
7.7 Accommodation procurement models
For unitary authorities, it can be helpful to utilise the expertise of the housing department in sourcing and managing accommodation provided to families under section 17. This would ensure that standards that are applied to accommodation provided to families under part VII of the Housing Act 1996 are also met for families supported under section 17. Using accommodation sourced by the housing department may also help to reduce risks that families need to be moved due to circumstances outside of the local authority’s control, such as due to a landlord failing to address repairs.
Examples of arrangements used by local authorities include:
- Setting up an agreement with the housing department in a unitary authority to source and manage accommodation placements – this may extend to employing a dedicated housing officer to work specifically with families supported under section 17
- Establishing a list of ‘approved providers’ based on the landlords/agencies that have been checked and approved by the housing authority, which can be accessed by children’s social care directly
- Using a temporary accommodation unit as interim accommodation before moving families onto longer-term self-contained properties
- Letting council-owned accommodation or temporary accommodation to families via a leasing scheme
- Paying or topping up rent directly to a landlord, where families already have a tenancy
It will be necessary to ensure that there are dedicated staff who can deal with property management, safety and maintenance issues, as local authorities often report that this work can be very time-consuming for social workers and NRPF caseworkers.
County councils will also need to consider how they can work in partnership with district housing authorities to set up similar arrangements.
It will also be necessary to consider cost-effective ways of funding accommodation providers. For example, a nightly rate might be more expensive on a daily basis but the local authority will avoid being tied in to a long-term rental commitment.
