Semi-independent accommodation

Our findings:

• 98% of children surveyed said that having someone who can protect them if they are ever in danger (at home or somewhere else) is important to them. 
• 97% of children we surveyed said that it is necessary for them to have someone who is regularly around to chat and to show interest in them.  
• 96% of children said that they wanted to have someone to deal with emergencies connected to electricity, gas, internet, connection, and/or security (break-ins). 

Currently, children living in semi-independent accommodation are only entitled to receive ‘support’, whereas children living in registered children’s homes must receive ‘care’. This is more than a linguistic difference. 

Children aged 16 and 17 are covered by different pieces of legislation depending upon where they live, each with a different set of requirements for providers. For children living in bedsits, or caravans, it is unlikely that there will be a trusted adult on hand to help deal with emergencies, for example, or to talk to them about how their day at school went. 

Every place where a child lives should have a responsibility to protect them. Yet this is another area where duties for some forms of accommodation are weaker than others.

For example, regulated children’s homes must ‘protect each child’s welfare’ – however, children living in semi-independent accommodation are covered by a clause which says that their welfare must be ‘promoted and prioritised’ generally, rather than individually. 

This results in a dilution of children’s rights. Strong oversight is essential to ensure children are safe, secure, and happy. 

Care-experienced people have frequently spoken about the lack of security, stability and support they have experienced living in semi-independent accommodation (Harle, 2022). 

We want every child to be cared for

The type of care children need throughout their life will change, as their needs are not fixed. Yet we believe that it is in the best interest of every child to live in a home with care at its heart, and which at a minimum provides the standard of care outlined in the Children’s Homes Regulations 2015. 

What’s next?

As part of the KC18 steering group, in Spring 2024 we will hold a cross party roundtable event to raise the issues facing 16 and 17-year-olds living in semi-independent accommodation. 

We will soon hear back from Ofsted with a response to their consultation on regulating and inspecting semi-independent accommodation. We met with them last month to share our concerns directly.