There are 177,530 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 increase and children’s health and development suffer.
The Temporary Accommodation Notification Duty introduces a new requirement within the statutory homelessness duties for local authorities, as part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act. Local authorities are now required to notify a child’s education setting, GP and health visiting team when the child is placed into temporary accommodation.
This measure marks an important step toward better coordination between housing, health and education services, helping to ensure that professional support is in place for children experiencing homelessness.
Shared Health has produced training for local authority housing teams, school staff, GP staff and health visiting teams, including guidance documents to outline the new statutory duties and highlight the recommended steps for support services to take after receiving a notification from local authorities.
This guidance has been developed in collaboration with local authorities, schools, health professionals and families with lived experience of homelessness. 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.
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Additional Resources
The Homeless Families Hub is a professional, practical resource bringing together guidance, evidence, tools and expertise to support professionals working with children and families experiencing homelessness. It provides a valuable source of information for health, housing, safeguarding and other services, with a particular focus on strengthening partnership working and improving outcomes for families.
