What does the child poverty strategy mean for homeless children?

Perhaps some of the families released from the two-child limit will lose some or all of their gains because of the overall benefit cap, but this is not acknowledged at all. There are plenty of references to the private rented sector, which houses almost 40 of all children in poverty, and improvements on the way include the end of Section 21 to the introduction of a new Decent Homes Standard.

But while the strategy commits to housing benefit rising in line with the social rent settlement, there is only a pledge “to review the levels of support” in the private rented sector and no acknowledgment of the impact of the continuing freeze in Local Housing Allowance.

“The number of families with children in B&Bs beyond the six-week legal limit has been falling since Labour took office, but the 2,070 in this position at the end of June was still 20 times higher than when the party was last in government in 2010”

Thankfully, the strategy has plenty to say about the record 172,000 children who are homeless and in temporary accommodation.

Foreshadowing the homelessness strategy due shortly, it pledges that: “We will end the unlawful use of B&Bs for families, improve the quality of temporary accommodation and take action to reduce the cost for councils.”

The number of families with children in B&Bs beyond the six-week legal limit has been falling since Labour took office, but the 2,070 in this position at the end of June was still 20 times higher than when the party was last in government in 2010. Enforcing a law that includes few penalties for local authorities that break it is perhaps the bare minimum that might be expected from the strategy. However, though the strategy pledges continued funding and support for local councils, it sets no deadline for this.

And though the strategy highlights the significant knock-on effects of life in temporary accommodation – disruption to families, missed schooling and damage to physical and mental health – there is no general commitment to or target for cutting the overall numbers. Bed and breakfast may be the least secure temporary accommodation of all, but it is not the only cause of harm to children in temporary accommodation.

The latest homelessness statistics show that at the end of June there were 33,530 families with children in nightly paid, privately managed accommodation, 15 times higher than in 2010 and 32% more than when Labour took office last year.  

More than 6,000 of those families had been in nightly paid accommodation for between two and five years, and almost 5,000 for more than five years. 

The child poverty strategy does promise a series of measures to provide better-quality temporary accommodation (via a fourth round of the Local Authority Housing Fund) and improve life for children in temporary homes (with targeted support in schools). In line with that, there will be improved notification systems between local housing authorities, schools and GPs and health visitors.

The strategy also promises “action to prevent poor out-of-area placement practice”, but again there is no target to reduce the numbers (42,740 households placed out of area at the end of June, eight times higher than in 2010 and up 10% since Labour took power).

There is also an acknowledgment of the shocking statistics on child mortality – temporary accommodation may have contributed to the deaths of 74 children between 2019 and 2024, of whom 58 were aged under one – and a promise to strengthen protection against poor conditions and links with health services.

The government is finally committing to ending the discharge of newborn babies into B&B or other unsuitable shared accommodation, something you have to pinch yourself to believe is still happening.

“Pleas by councils for the freeze in temporary accommodation subsidy to be lifted went unanswered in the Budget, but the child poverty strategy hints at more action to come”

The only thing that has been rising faster than the number of families with children in temporary accommodation has been the cost to local authorities of providing it.

A report by the Institute of Government in October found that net spending by councils (i.e. after central government support) on temporary accommodation was £1.3bn in 2024-25, 19 times higher in real terms than in 2009-10. In the last two years alone net spending has doubled. 

Pleas by councils for the freeze in temporary accommodation subsidy to be lifted (it is still linked to LHA rates from 2011 for most types of temporary accommodation) went unanswered in the Budget, but the child poverty strategy hints at more action to come. 

It argues that the government is spending more on homelessness support than ever before without that being reflected in the quality and the standard of the housing provided: “The government is committed to considering the best way to sustainably fund good-quality temporary accommodation and drive down the use of poor-quality accommodation. This includes exploring the most appropriate support through the benefits system for both temporary accommodation and supported housing.”

This would be good news both for housing and for child poverty, but it must only be a start.

Improving the quality and bringing down the cost of temporary accommodation are significant improvements, but that must not mean accepting a world in which tens of thousands of children are growing up in temporary homes. 

The long-term solution must be permanent social homes.

Jules Birch, columnist, Inside Housing