The use of unregulated accommodation for under 18s in care should be banned, the Children's Commissioner's Office has said following an investigation into vulnerable children in care living in semi-independent accommodation.
The change would see all children in care who need a residential placement housed in accommodation regulated under the same standards as children's homes, and would put an end to 16 and 17-year-olds being placed in bedsits, hostels and caravans.
Read more in Local Government Lawyer.
Surrogacy reform moves up the agenda
Surrogacy reform has moved a step closer with the news that the government met the Law Commission last month to discuss recommendations which had appeared to
Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel publish Annual Report
On 12 December 2024 the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel published its ‘Independent annual report for serious child safeguarding incidents, 2023 to 2024’. Read the
Plan to register children not in school takes shape
A register to identify children who are not in school in England will be part of a bill introduced to Parliament on Tuesday. Read the
