Amendments

In September 2025, information was added about how to access pre-application advice on caring for children with complex needs (Ofsted) in Section 2.1, Additional Considerations Where a Child Has Multiple Needs. If you are thinking about opening a children’s social care service for children with complex needs.

In September 2025, links were added to additional sources of guidance.

This chapter was refreshed in September 2025.
The Government guidance ‘Report the death or serious harm of a child or care leaver’ was updated to provide what information is needed when reporting incidents involving children who have died or been seriously harmed and abuse or neglect is known or suspected, looked after children and care leavers. The Serious Incident Notification Guide for local authorities has been added to this chapter.

This chapter was updated in September 2025 to reflect Granting Leaves of Absence in Working Together to Improve School Attendance statutory guidance, which states that generally, the DfE does not consider a need or desire for a holiday or other absence for the purpose of leisure and recreation to be an exceptional circumstance for leave of absence.

In September 2025, information from Good Decisions: supporting children aged 16 and 17 who need help when they are homeless (GOV.UK) was added to Section 1, Prevention of Homelessness and Provision of Accommodation for 16 and 17 Year Old Young People who may be Homeless and/or Require Accommodation. A new Section 3.1, Domestic Abuse and Homelessness was also added.

In September 2025, this chapter was revised in line with updated government guidance.

In September 2025, information was added from How Local Authorities Can Help Young Carers (Ofsted Blog)  and additional resources were added to Further Information.

In March 2025, updates were made to reflect the Homelessness Code of Guidance - Chapter 22: Care Leavers (updated 3 May 2024) which sets out the expectation that authorities should have in place joint protocols which clearly outline jointly held corporate parenting responsibilities for care leavers. See Section 8, Joint Housing Protocols for Care Leavers.