News

It was truly inspiring to see politicians and professionals from across the health, education, housing, legal and VCFSE sectors come together, passionate about tackling the temporary accommodation crisis and driving tangible change through solutions that place lived experience’s voice at their heart.

It was particularly encouraging to hear the Government’s commitment to improving temporary accommodation for children and families, reflected in Minister for Homelessness Alison McGovern MP’s keynote speech at the conference.

Thank you to the Magpie Project, CARIS Families and Cardinal Hume for sharing frontline insights into supporting families in TA; to Cratus Group, Portakabin, PJ Livesey and Cornerstone Place for showcasing practical housing solutions; to Prof Katherine Brickell, Ysabella Hawkings, Thea Grattidge and Leila Baker for highlighting the particular challenges faced by neurodivergent children in TA; Siobhain McDonagh MP and Jim McMahon MP for their insight into campaigning for better temporary accommodation for families and children; and to Made by Mortals for leading a creative audio workshop that immersed attendees in the human reality of the TA crisis.

Currently, there are over 176,130 homeless children in England living in temporary accommodation. Many are living in dangerous conditions with limited support, far away from their school, GP and community. The educational attainment of children plummets when they become homeless. The barriers to healthcare increase, and children’s health and development suffer. For neurodivergent children, living in temporary accommodation can be especially challenging, yet the effects of homelessness specifically on children with neurodivergences remain significantly under-researched.

For years, the Shared Health Foundation has worked collaboratively across sectors with a singular mission – to reduce the impact of temporary accommodation and homelessness on children. We are incredibly proud of the tangible changes this work has made for families, supporting them on their journey out of homelessness. 

Shared Health’s ongoing campaigning and cross-sector collaboration have led to real policy changes, most recently reflected in the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy and National Plan to End Homelessness. This progress is summarised in our video, “The story so far; Homeless families policy from the Shared Health Foundation”, which you can watch here:

The work is far from over. Join us as we continue to dare to hope and work towards the day when every child will have a safe and stable place to call home.

On Monday, 19th January 2026, the amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill for a notification system was welcomed and passed in the House of Lords. 

The Government tabled an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to introduce a new duty on local housing authorities to notify educational institutions, GP practices and health visiting services when a child is placed in temporary accommodation, if consent is provided.

The amendment was passed in the House of Lords during the Bill’s Report Stage.

This comes after continuous campaigning from Shared Health Foundation for a notification system as co-secretariats of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Households in Temporary Accommodation through the APPG’s SAFE Protocol Campaign.

Alongside legislation, guidance will be provided for local authority housing officers and relevant education and health bodies to ensure that the duty is well understood.

We have worked in collaboration with local authorities, schools, health professionals and families with lived experience of homelessness, to develop Guidance for Local Authorities, Primary Care and Schools. We know that a little can go a long way in providing children and their families with a sense of hope during a very difficult time, and that Health and Education services are well-placed to provide the stability that homeless families need to continue to thrive.

We look forward to working with the Government to ensure that the notification system is implemented.

Watch the full discussion from the House of Lords below:

To apply, send your CV and a cover letter to contact@sharedhealth.org.uk

Job Description:

Job Title: Business Development Lead

Hours: Part-time, 30 hours/week

Location: Shared Health Foundation office, Oldham

Salary: £35,000-£37,000 depending on experience, pro rata.

Reports to: CEO

Responsible for: Operational delivery of projects, internal systems, HR and business development.

Application deadline: 27/02/2026

About Shared Health Foundation

Shared Health Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation based in Greater Manchester that aims to reduce the impact of poverty on health. We are clinically led and evidence based and are passionate about social justice in areas of deprivation. Both our on the ground initiatives and systems change policy and political work are both rooted in people’s lived experience with a solutions focused outcome.

Shared Health train GPs to work in areas of deprivation, the UKs only programme that specifically focuses on poverty, our homeless families support work sees breakthrough each and every day, our policy and political work is being adopted by the UK government and is regularly quoted in Parliament and our infant-parent psychology work is ground breaking and innovative.

We are looking for a Business Development Lead to join our small team to build on the success from the past 10 years. We want to make our support services sustainable and replicable, we want to make a bigger political and policy impact and want to constantly find and fight new inequalities that are seldom heard.

This role is strategic, financial and process driven and yet creative in its solutions. We are looking for a kind leader who wants to change the world and can help us build the infrastructure to do so.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Leadership & Systems Development

● Line manage project leads and monitor success of projects. Build on findings to

make projects sustainable and replicable.

● Work with clinical leads to monitor trends of inequalities, pilot new initiatives and

feedback to the policy team.

● Provide strategic leadership for direction of projects and organisational aims.

● Ensure compliance with relevant regulations (including data protection/GDPR),

companies house governance requirements and internal administrative standards.

● Oversee the development of a simple, practical monitoring, evaluation and reporting

framework to enable accurate tracking of reach, impact and performance across all

projects.

● Support internal reporting to the CEO and Board, and external reporting to funders,

partners and local authorities.

● Lead on HR process, recruitment and retainment.

● Support finance officer with payroll updates, budgeting and forecasting.

Person Specification

We’re looking for someone who:

● Is passionate about reducing health inequalities and has a heart for social justice.

● Has significant relevant experience in operation, leadership or management

generally in the voluntary or healthcare sector.

● Is highly organised, has strong digital literacy and is comfortable in coordinating

multiple projects and stakeholders.

● Understands data protection, compliance and risk.

● Has strong financial literacy and experience with budgets, forecasting and resource

planning.

● Is a leader that is calm, kind and solutions-focused.

● Communicates clearly, constructively and collaboratively.

Application deadline: 27/02/2026

To apply, send your CV and a cover letter to contact@sharedhealth.org.uk

On Thursday, 11th December 2025, the Government has released its Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy, committing to support for households in Temporary Accommodation. 

Over the past few years, Shared Health Foundation has been campaigning hard to improve Temporary Accommodation for children and families. We are delighted to see that our campaign asks have been implemented in both the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy and the Child Poverty Strategy released last week.

1. Recognition of the risk of child mortality in Temporary Accommodation. The APPG for Households in TA’s report on Child Mortality in Temporary Accommodation quoted throughout the Homelessness Strategy, with a commitment to reducing mortality.

2. Ending the use of B&Bs for families unless absolutely unavoidable.

3. Introduce the SAFE protocol to alert GPs and schools of a child’s homelessness.

4. Shared Health pilots of the SAFE protocol recognised as a success.

5. Introduce a clinical code for all children living in Temporary Accommodation to better identify and prevent incidents.

6. Commitment to reducing educational impact and children being off-rolled through better data collection and best practice.

7. Recognition of ‘The Debt Trap’ findings around the impact of domestic abuse on families in Temporary Accommodation. Commitment to address the barriers faced by survivors of domestic abuse when applying for social housing.

We have been calling for these policies for a long time, and it’s heartening to see the Government’s commitment to improving Temporary Accommodation for children and families.

We also welcome and support the following additional changes announced in the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy:

1. Set a new national target to prevent homelessness for more households and to help more people into stable homes quickly, this parliament.

2. Place new legal duties on public services to identify, act and collaborate to prevent and address homelessness.

3. Require every council to publish an action plan to accompany their local homelessness strategy.

4. Publish progress reports at least every two years to track progress at a national level against our actions and targets.

Dr Laura Neilson, CEO of the Shared Health Foundation, said:

“It is heartening to see that Ministers have heard the plight of the record number of children and families who are homeless. Alongside the Child Poverty Strategy, this Homelessness Strategy is ambitious in reducing the impact of homelessness on families. 

We urge the Government to continue to show brave leadership and look forward to working together to go faster and beyond what is outlined today. 

Homelessness should be rare, brief and non-recurring and not be detrimental to the life chances of children and young people.”

We look forward to working closely with Ministers and the sector to ensure that all actions announced in the strategies are implemented with urgency.

Get your ticket for our Homeless Families Conference: Dare to Hope 2026

There are 172,420 homeless children in England living in Temporary Accommodation. Many are living in dangerous conditions with little support to help them navigate through our complex systems. Families are continuously placed out of area, far away from their school, GP and community. The educational attainment of homeless children plummets when they become homeless. The barriers to healthcare increases and children’s health and development suffer. There is a national focus and political will for rough sleeping, but less so for families. And tragically, 74 children have died in Temporary Accommodation, most were under 1.

And yet, we dare to hope.

Our annual Homeless Families Conference, held on Thursday 6th November 2025, brought together experts by experience alongside colleagues from housing, health, education, the home office and the voluntary and faith sector. Whether you are front line, a volunteer, a commissioner or a politician, the crisis of homeless families is all our responsibility to share.

Things can and will get better.

The video recordings of all the talks can be found on our YouTube channel, please do watch and share with your colleagues.

We look forward to hosting more gatherings to look at and work to improve the health and education outcomes for children and families in the homelessness journey.

For more information about Shared Health, please email contact@contactsharedhealth.org.uk

If you would like to attend our Homeless Families Conference: Dare to Hope next year, sign up for our mailing list to receive updates.

Get your ticket for Doctors in Deprivation Training Day: Find Your Tribe 2026

Good health should be shared with all. It should not be damaged by social or economic disadvantage.

Alongside colleagues from Deep End GM, Shared Health Foundation held its annual Doctors in Deprivation Training Day on Tuesday, 4th November 2025. GPs and Clinical Leads working in the Deep End of medicine were invited to come and be inspired, challenged, encouraged and most importantly, find their tribe of other clinicians working in areas of deprivation.

The training day explored the challenges faced by those working in areas of deprivation and disadvantaged communities and shared the hopeful work organisations in Greater Manchester and beyond are doing to reduce health inequalities and the impact of poverty on health.

We hope that after the training day, attendees’ skills, outlook, and understanding have been transformed, and they feel more hopeful in their vital grassroots work.

The video recordings of all the talks can be found on our YouTube channel, please do watch and share with your colleagues.

We are proud to be part of the Deep End Network and look forward to hosting more gatherings to look at the impact of poverty on health in our communities.

For more information about Shared Health, please email contact@contactsharedhealth.org.uk

If you would like to receive further updates about our work and events, sign up for our mailing list.

Job description

Role title: Health Policy Implementation Lead

Contract type: Fixed-term or permanent, Part-time (30 hours)

Location: Office based in Oldham, Greater Manchester with travel around the UK.

Start date: April 2026.

Salary: £35k depending on experience. (FTE, pro rata 30 hours)

For an informal discussion around this role, please email sam.pratt@sharedhealth.org.uk

Application deadline: Monday 16th March 2026

Role summary:

Shared Health Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation which is passionate reducing the impact of poverty on health. We are clinically led, and evidence based.

We are brave, determined and solution focused and are absolutely committed to raising awareness and bringing change for the experience of families who are homeless living in Temporary Accommodation.

Shared Health has been advocating for change since 2018 and is proud to have been able to influence the conversation around homeless families in Greater Manchester, and nationally, through being co-secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Households in Temporary Accommodation. This role specialises in the people and policies that can positively impact the health outcomes for children living in temporary accommodation (TA).

The successful candidate will have an interest in the health inequalities fields, and an understanding of how these outcomes can impact children. They will have a strong understanding of how to build supportive and effective relationships with professionals and also have an eye for detail in helping gather evidence, understand data, and make recommendations for change.

They will understand how policies are changed within the NHS and have the tenacity and kindness to influence decision makers. The candidate will be advocating for the most vulnerable.

Main responsibilities:

●  Advocate for the implementation of the commitments set in the National Plan for Ending Homelessness for the NHS and other health colleagues.

● Formalise and facilitate an existing informal network of healthcare professionals interested in gathering evidence and supporting advocacy within their professional roles.

● Engage with the NHS, ICB and Public Health around the issues of Temporary Accommodation for children.

● Lead a pilot project to be held in hospitals to produce a data set for admissions and accident rates for children in Temporary Accommodation.

● Increase visibility of Shared Health Foundation’s recommendations for change within professional bodies, including but not restricted to the Royal Colleges of Medicine, Public Health England, and the Institute of Health Visitors.

● Work with practitioners, researchers and data collectors for national policy influence for maternal and child health in TA.

● Support civil servants at the Department of Health and Social Care to produce guidance.

Personal specification

Experience

Essential

– Engaging with health and sectors and professionals to see change implemented.

– Experience and/or knowledge of the impacts of health inequalities.

– Working with people from a variety of backgrounds and forging strong relationships.

– Public speaking and presentation experience.

Desirable

– Previously worked within the VCSE sector.

– Understanding of data collection and analysis.

Qualifications

Desirable

– Politics or health related qualification, either A-level or degree standard.

Skills and Knowledge

Essential

– Understanding of UK politics and current affairs.

– Knowing how to influence decision makers.

Desirable

– An understanding of the housing process for families in the UK.

– An understanding of the impact of homelessness on children and adults.

Other

Essential

– Builds good relationships

– Is able to be professional and understand professional boundaries.

– Is an encourager, but knows when to stand up for what is right too.

Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.

Application deadline: Monday 16th March 2026

On Friday, 5th December, the Government released its Child Poverty Strategy, committing to support for households in Temporary Accommodation. We are pleased to see the following policies that we have been continuously campaigning for implemented in the Strategy:

1. End the practice of placing mothers with newborns in B&Bs and other unsuitable shared accommodation. This will help reduce the risk of child mortality in Temporary Accommodation, an issue that Shared Health has highlighted through our collaborative work with the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD).

2. Introduce a clinical code for children in Temporary Accommodation to improve data on accidents and admissions to better identify and prevent incidents.

3. Improve the quality and suitability of Temporary Accommodation placements, including action to prevent poor out-of-area placement practice.

 4. Identify and reduce the number of school days lost for children in Temporary Accommodation, supporting Local Authorities, trusts and schools to record Temporary Accommodation status consistently and provide targeted support to children.

5. Introduce a Temporary Accommodation notification system, where local housing authorities would notify educational institutions, health visitors and GPs when a child is placed in Temporary Accommodation. This would enable health and education providers to respond appropriately to support children experiencing homelessness and mitigate the harmful impacts of living in Temporary Accommodation. 

This is a change that the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Households in Temporary Accommodation, of which the Shared Health Foundation is a co-secretariat, has continuously campaigned for through the SAFE Protocol Campaign.

The SAFE campaign, launched by the APPG for Households in Temporary Accommodation in February 2025, aimed to foster increased collaboration between local authorities and their support services when a homeless household is placed in Temporary Accommodation. The campaign called for a legal duty on local councils to notify GP surgeries and schools when a child is placed in Temporary Accommodation, to allow for a more holistic support for households in Temporary Accommodation.

Dr Laura Neilson, CEO of the Shared Health Foundation, said:

“We are delighted that the Government is committing practical measures to reduce the impact of homelessness on children and are encouraged at the changes announced today.

Children living in temporary accommodation is a national scandal and needs to be consigned to history. All children should have somewhere safe to live, access to education and support.

Shared Health Foundation has continuously campaigned, launched pilots, submitted evidence and written guidance calling for the Government’s commitment to better support children in temporary accommodation. We are pleased to see that our recommendation for a notification system for GPs and schools is being implemented in the Child Poverty Strategy.

We encourage ministers to ensure that all actions announced today are implemented with urgency. We look forward to working closely with ministers and the sector.”

We will continue campaigning for better conditions for families and children in Temporary Accommodation. 

Thank you to everyone who attended our fringe event at the Labour Party’s Autumn Conference on Monday, 29th September, and special thanks to our guest speakers Dame Rachel De Souza, Dame Siobhain McDonagh MP, Councillor Bev Craig and Councillor Louise Brett.

Drawing on personal experience and working directly with children currently on their homeless journey, our passionate and knowledgeable panel discussed both short-term and long-term solutions Labour could undertake to address the housing crisis.

“Really treating housing as a priority, as a health priority, as an education priority, is absolutely key. You can’t learn, you can’t get your exams if you’re in a mouldy, rat-infested, non-permanent education”. – Dame Rachel de Souza.

“Absolutely, we should be fighting tooth and nail to make sure that people have that safety. It is the start and the beginning of everything. It does affect [Children’s] entire life chances”. – Councillor Louise Brett

“How the state wraps around a person, and the work that we’ve been doing… around the role that notifying GPs and making sure that schools see their young people as their responsibility in all areas of their life, I think is really important”. – Councillor Bev Craig.

The implications of Temporary Accommodation on children’s lives are far-reaching, with negative impacts on health and education, including an increased risk of child mortality. Our report, “Children Living in Temporary Accommodation: An Absolute Scandal”, exposes that living in Temporary Accommodation can violate thirteen articles of the United Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

---

Thank you to everyone who attended our fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference on Sunday 5th October.

It was very positive to share and hear experiences, best practice and ideas on how we can all work to improve the outcomes for children living in temporary accommodation

We are hopeful that in an opposition government, the Conservatives can support the health and education of homeless children in temporary accommodation.

The implications of Temporary Accommodation on children’s lives are far-reaching, with negative impacts on health and education, including an increased risk of child mortality. Our report, “Children Living in Temporary Accommodation: An Absolute Scandal”, exposes that living in Temporary Accommodation can violate thirteen articles of the United Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).