Prevention of Homelessness and Provision of Accommodation for 16 and 17 Year Olds who may be Homeless and/or Require Accommodation; and Duty to Refer

1. Prevention of Homelessness and Provision of Accommodation for 16 and 17 Year Old Young People who may be Homeless and/or Require Accommodation

See: Provision of Accommodation for 16 and 17 Year Olds who may be Homeless and/or Require Accommodation.

Young people may become homeless for a variety of reasons. However, family breakdown, mental health concerns and unemployment are often major contributing factors to this. 16 and 17 year olds who are homeless or threatened with homelessness are likely to be vulnerable and will often be at risk of harm in the absence of intervention. Safeguarding and promoting their welfare should be central to service provision. It is therefore essential that children's services and housing services work together to plan and provide services that are centred on young people and their families, and prevent young people from being passed back and forth between services.

If there is any concern that a child may be suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm then local safeguarding procedures must be followed. The statutory guidance 'Working together to Safeguard Children 2018' sets out what is expected of organisations to safeguard and promote the welfare of children

Where a 16 or 17 year old seeks help from local authority children's services, or is referred to children's services by some other person or agency as appearing to be homeless or threatened with homelessness, children's services must carry out an assessment of what duties, if any, are owed to them. This applies to all young people, including 17 year olds who are approaching their 18th birthday, and young people who are pregnant or have children in their care. Where the duty in section 20 of the 1989 Act is triggered the local authority are under a duty to accommodate the child.

Where the specific duty is owed under section 20 of the 1989 Act, a 16 or 17 year old should be accommodated under that provision rather than looking to the general duty owed to children in need and their families under section 17 of the 1989 Act.

Where a 16 or 17 year old seeks help or is referred, and it appears that they have nowhere safe to stay that night, then children's services must secure suitable emergency accommodation for them under section 20 of the 1989 Act, whilst their needs, including their need for continuing accommodation and support, are further assessed. If the young person is accommodated for a continuous period of more than 24 hours the young person will become looked after (further information on section 20 below).

Whilst the section 20 Children Act 1989 duty takes precedence, housing services also have duties towards young people who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. Duties owed by each service will depend on a range of factors, including which service they initially seek help from; the outcomes of any assessments and enquiries; and the wishes and feelings of the young person and their family.

In some cases, it may not be necessary for the young person to be accommodated by children's services because the young person's needs can be met by providing other services, for example, support to enable the young person to return to the care of their family or other responsible adults in the young person's network.

If children's services conclude that the young person does not require accommodation for this reason, they should consider whether they should provide services for the young person under section 17 of the 1989 Act, as a child in need.

Where the local authority decides to provide services, a multi-agency child in need plan should be developed which sets out which agencies will provide which services to the child and family. The plan could include, for example, regular visits from children's services, access to family mediation or family group conferencing, or financial support under section 17(6) to sustain any plan for the young person to live with members of their family.

When a 16 or 17 year old is seeking support because they are homeless or threatened with homelessness, housing services and children's services responses should explicitly recognise this and work pro-actively with young people and their families to identify and resolve the issues which have led to the homelessness crisis. This could involve family support such as family mediation or family group conferences.

It may be possible to prevent a 16 or 17 year old from having to leave home at all, or it may take much longer to work through significant family tensions and problems. It is therefore important that services are designed to enable this family focus to begin on day one and continue throughout the processes of assessment and, where necessary, the provision of accommodation. Joint working between housing and children's services will support this process.

Children's services authorities have powers to accommodate children under section 17(6) of the 1989 Act. A young person provided with accommodation under this section would not be looked after and the local authority would not have the corresponding duties set out at in sections 22, 22B, 23, 23ZA-23ZB and 24 of the 1989 Act. However, the provision of accommodation under section 17 will almost always concern children needing to be accommodated with their families.

The powers of local authorities to provide accommodation under section 17 cannot be used as a substitute for their duty to provide accommodation under section 20(1) of the 1989 Act to homeless 16 and 17 year olds in need. Children's services do not have the option of choosing under which provision they should provide accommodation for homeless 16 and 17 year olds. Section 20 involves an evaluative judgment on some matters but not discretion.

However, in very limited circumstances the provision of accommodation under section 17 may be appropriate. Where a young person aged 16 or 17 is homeless and requires accommodation, does not wish to be accommodated under section 20 but is subsequently not owed the main accommodation duty by a housing authority, for example because they have refused a suitable offer of accommodation or are found to be intentionally homeless, then the children's services authority should, given the change in circumstances, once again ask them their wishes regarding being accommodated under section 20.

If the young person still does not wish to be accommodated under section 20 and is judged to have the capacity to make that decision they should be offered accommodation under section 17 with a child in need plan in place, until they no longer require accommodation or they reach the age of 18. In such cases, children's services and housing services will need to work together with the young person to ensure that they are not placed at risk of homelessness as they approach age 18.

Early Intervention

Work undertaken by children's services and housing services to prevent a 16 or 17 year old from becoming homeless may be undertaken under both section 17 of the 1989 Act and section 195 of the 1996 Act. Any preventative work should be undertaken alongside the assessment processes outlined in this guidance, and should not delay the provision of accommodation or performance of other statutory duties where these are owed.

If the young person is at risk of becoming homeless in the future, for example because of conflict within the family home, it will be for children's services to determine what support is required depending on the circumstances and the needs of the young person and their family. Where there is no immediate threat of homelessness intervention may be more appropriately led by early help services, whereas if there is an imminent threat of homelessness or if the young person is actually homeless, a child in need assessment must be carried out and the child accommodated under section 20.

2. Homelessness: Duty to Refer

See: A guide to the duty to refer.

In October 2018, the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 came into effect and provided new duties on local housing authorities to intervene at an earlier stage in order to reduce the risk of homelessness.

The guide to the duty to refer identifies a person is considered homeless if:

• They do not have any accommodation which is available for them which they have a legal right to occupy; or
• It is not reasonable for the person to occupy their current accommodation, for example, because they would be at risk of domestic abuse.

3. Homelessness: Code of Guidance - Referral Process

See: Homelessness code of guidance for local authorities.

This guidance advises that the service user must:

1. Consent to the referral being completed in the first place;
2. Allow the individual to identify the housing authority in England which they would like the notification to be sent to;
3. Have consent from the individual for their contact details to be supplied so the housing authority can contact them regarding the referral.

Within one working day of a referral being received, a local authority social worker should make a decision about the type of response that is required and acknowledge receipt to the referrer.

Where a young person refers themselves, or is referred by housing services or another agency as appearing to be homeless or threatened with homelessness, children's services should proceed with a child in need assessment Where homelessness is threatened or actual, this should result in a prompt response based on individual circumstances.

Within one working day of a referral being received, a local authority social worker should make a decision about the type of response that is required and acknowledge receipt to the referrer. Where a young person refers themselves, or is referred by housing services or another agency as appearing to be homeless or threatened with homelessness, children's services should proceed with a child in need assessment.

Children's services should also ensure that the young person receives accurate information about what assistance may be available to them if they do not become looked after, including from housing services under Part 7 of the 1996 Act. This will include any entitlement for assistance under Part 7. In particular the considerations a young person needs to be made aware of are:

1. Duties on housing services to undertake an assessment, develop a personalised housing plan and to take steps to help the applicant retain or secure accommodation (sections 195 and section 189B of the 1996 Act);
2. The requirement on the applicant to cooperate and for applicants to take steps themselves as set out in a personalised plan (section 193B and section 193C of the 1996 Act);
3. The 'accommodation offer' under the relief duty – suitable accommodation which has a reasonable prospect of being available for occupation for at least 6 months (section 189B and section 195 of the 1996 Act);
4. The implications of turning down offers of accommodation that are suitable (section 193A of the Housing Act 1996);
5. The possible risk of being found or becoming homeless intentionally in the future (section 191 of the 1996 Act);
6. Their right to request a review of decisions (section 202 of the 1996 Act).

4. Housing Protocols for Care Leavers

See: Joint Housing Protocols for Care Leavers: good practice advice (DfE and MHCLG).

See also: Leaving Care and Transition Procedure, Joint Housing Protocols for Care Leavers.

5. Further Information

Guidance for NHS trusts and foundation trusts providing emergency departments, urgent treatment centres and inpatient services

Local Government Association – Homelessness

Centre Point – Are you Homeless, Sofa Surfing or At Risk?

Land Aid – Why Youth Homelessness?

Care leavers accommodation and support framework, St. Basils