People leaving care and domestic abuse survivors are to be given greater access to safe and secure social housing following changes to local connection requirements, enacted as part of the government’s Plan for Change.
Previewed last month by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, the changes to the rule which came into effect from Friday 11th July, will mean vulnerable groups who might previously have faced barriers to social housing if they are not connected to the local area can no longer be ‘unfairly penalised.’
Government guidance for councils across England, nearly 90% of which currently use local connection tests, sets out their obligations to prioritise vulnerable people applying for social housing. This has now been updated to confirm young care leavers and domestic abuse survivors must be exempt from any local connection tests.
Angela Rayner, who is also Housing Secretary said:
“I’m immensely proud this government is delivering real change for some of our most vulnerable in society, making sure more young people and families can have a safe and secure roof over their head. It’s only right we remove local connection tests for these groups and from today they will no longer face such barriers – it’s a promise we made and a promise we’ve kept.
“This builds on our Plan for Change to deliver the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation, turning the tide on the crisis we’ve inherited and building hundreds of thousands of new homes to bring down housing waiting lists for good.”
The changes follow the rules overhauled last year to remove local connection tests for all former UK Regular Armed Forces Veterans, regardless of when they last served, as pledged by the Prime Minister. While the changes remove a specific barrier for these vulnerable groups, the allocation of social housing is still at the discretion of the local housing authority.
The government has also announced £53m of funding to create 200 new placements for children who have such complex needs that they are at risk of, or have been, deprived of their liberty.
Just last week, the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory (NJFO) said the number of Deprivation of Liberty (DoL) orders was ‘high’ with 321 children subject to DoL orders from January to March 2025 according to the quarterly family court statistics; authorising the holding of children in an unregulated secure placement
A substantial shortage of placements to meet young people’s needs over recent years has seen them being placed into accommodation that is operating illegally by not registering with Ofsted said the government. The result is a spend of c.£440m a year on unregistered placements, many with private providers who have profit requirements.
The funding will create new placements in ‘high-quality council-run homes’ say the government through its Plan for Change.
